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Class \l_ A_ 

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PRI SI NTED BY 



A Century of 

Commerce and Finance 

in Chautauqua County 
New York 



A Century of 

Commerce and Finance 

in Chautauqua County 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS 



.BY... 



CHARLES M. DOW 

OF JAMESTOWN, N. Y. 



PRESENTED AT WESTFIELD, N. Y., JULY 25, 1902, 

AT THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 

OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT 

OF CHAUTAUQUA 

COUNTY 



REPRINTED FROM THE 

'CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY' 






Author 
(Person) 



JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY 
JAMESTOWN, N. Y. 
1905 . 



A Century of 
Commerce and Finance in Chautauqua County 

BY CHARLES M. DOW. 

T N undertaking this paper, I am aware that it imposes 
upon me a difficult task — that of presenting within 
the compass of an article of moderate length a state- 
ment of the business and transportation development 
of a century. The difficulty has been found in the 
scarcity of material on some points for anything like 
a comprehensive account. 

In its preparation I have been aided by my father, 
Albert G. Dow of Randolph, who for more than three- 
quarters of a century has been closely allied with the 
business interests of this county and an active partici- 
pant in its development. I have had the benefit of his- 
torical papers and documents in the possession of the 
Chautauqua County Trust Company and have had re- 
course to the public libraries. 

The life of a small section of country is of interest 
especially as it is seen to be a part of the larger life 
of the times. I have accordingly sought to connect the 
narrative with what was taking place upon a wider 
theater. It is thought that the picture will not be less 
attractive because of its framing in the events of the 
time. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

"There be three things which make a nation great 
and prosperous — a fertile soil, busy workshops, and 
easy conveyance for men and goods from place to 
place." — Bacon. 



The work of the convention which adopted the Fed- 
eral Constitution occasioned a feeling of relief by the 
settlement of the burning questions which had long 
occupied the attention of the people. Great business 
activity soon followed. Speculation in warrants of all 
kinds set in vigorously and extended to all branches of 
business. The country was then mainly agricultural 
and the spirit of speculation did not long overlook so 
promising a field as that of lands. The seemingly in- 
exhaustible acres of fertile soil that could be had almost 
for the asking and yet which a few years after would 
undoubtedly increase in value were eagerly sought. 
Great companies were formed to get possession of 
lands, organize colonies and establish settlements. 
These companies were organized and lands bought in 
almost every state : The Ohio Company, the Walpole 
Grant, the Mississippi Company, the Military Company 
of Adventurers, the Dismal Swamp Company, in all of 
which Washington himself was interested, are but sam- 
ples of what was being done everywhere throughout 
the colonies. 

In the winter of 1782-3, an American governmental 
loan was made through two prominent banking firms 
of Amsterdam, Holland — the Willinks and the Van 
Staphorsts. The amount of the loan was two million 
dollars and was to be repaid in five equal installments 
annually from 1793 to 1797. Robert Morris, in the 
course of his duties as Superintendent of Finance, be- 
came acquainted through correspondence with these 
bankers; Close observers of affairs abroad as well as 
in America began to realize that vast fields were open- 
ing to speculative ventures of all kinds. 

May 11, 1 791, Morris bought of Massachusetts all 
the land in the State of New York west of the Genesee, 
at the same time realizing that as the first installment 



of the two million dollars loan would be due in 1793 
the Dutch bankers would be in funds seeking invest- 
ment. During 1792 skillfully worded pamphlets were 
broadly distributed through Holland describing the 
lands owned by Morris and bearing strong indications 
of having been inspired by that eminent financier. 

December 24, 1792, Robert Morris conveyed to Le- 
Roy & Linklaen one and one-half million acres of land. 
Between this and the following July conveyances were 
made to the same men covering the entire territory. 
LeRoy & Linklaen were only trustees for certain gen- 
tlemen of Amsterdam afterward known as the Holland 
Land Company. There was no organized corporation, 
but simply three groups of capitalists — the extent of 
whose respective interests was a matter of private con- 
cern and impossible to ascertain. 

These Holland investors entered upon the business 
of getting the lands into market with the great thor- 
oughness which marked the enterprise to the end. In 
August, 1800, handbills were circulated announcing that 
the Holland Land Company would the following month 
open an office for the sale of a portion of their valuable 
lands in the Genesee country. The handbills gave a 
general description of the location of the lands, and 
after stating that from their being almost surrounded 
by settlements, provision of every kind was to be had 
in abundance, they go on to state that "such are the 
variety of situations in this part of the Genesee country 
everywhere almost covered with a rich soil, that all pur- 
chasers who may be inclined to participate in the advan- 
tages of those lands may select lots from one hundred 
twenty acres to tracts containing one hundred thous- 
and acres that will fully please and satisfy their choice." 

Other lands were being offered to settlers in all di- 
rections on almost every kind of terms imaginable. In 

5 



Canada the Government was offering lands at six pence 
per acre. It was only by affording more conveniences 
that the Holland Company was enabled to secure higher 
prices. 

Robert Morris paid two hundred seventy-five thous- 
and dollars for the land which he afterward conveyed 
to the Holland Company, and, for the extinguishment 
of the Indian title, another one hundred thousand dol- 
lars, making in all three hundred seventy-five thousand 
dollars. The Holland Company paid for the same in 
round numbers one million one hundred thousand dol- 
lars. The first tax roll which embraces this period bears 
date October 6, 1800. This was practically when they 
had just begun to offer the lands for sale. In that tax 
roll the value of the real and personal estate of the Hol- 
land Land Company was assessed at three million three 
hundred thousand dollars, evidently one dollar per acre. 

Twenty years later Joseph Ellicott, in summing up 
the progress made during the twenty years of his man- 
agement of the company's affairs in New York, says : 
"From the resources drawn from the property, after 
paying all the costs and charges of surveys, opening 
roads, taxes and other expenses, I have from time to 
time remitted to the General Agent more than sixty- 
three thousand dollars ; that the debts due the company 
secured on the land and improvements amount to near- 
ly five million dollars, and there remain unsold one mil- 
lion six hundred fifty-eight thousand seven hundred 
thirty-eight acres of land." 

The conclusion to be drawn as to the success of the 
Holland Land Company's venture as a financial enter- 
prise would be that their profits were sufficient to make 
them and their descendants a handsome income for 
years. The remnants of the Holland Land Company's 

6 



lands in New York State were sold to Trumbull Cary 
and others in 1837. 

I am led to believe that most of the first settlers who 
came to this county came without any fixed knowledge 
of the country and were simply coming- west along the 
line of least possible resistance, which is the organic 
law of life. The question of their locating here was only 
a question of transportation, of investment and occupa- 
tion, and if we study the transportation of the country 
at different epochs, we are furnished a clue that will take 
us very near the heart of all settlements. The people 
traveled in the easiest way they could. It was a day of 
raft and boat, saddle-horse and pack-horse, and man fol- 
lowed and settled on the pathway of the waters. His 
direction was guided undoubtedly by the great water 
ways, the distinct trails, and the knowlege that the hills 
would raise corn and the streams would carry it, that 
great law which designates the river valleys and the 
water ways to be the earliest and most permanent cen- 
ters of population. 

To the east and south of us great tracts of land had 
been taken and populated by great captains of their 
times who had come with companies or colonies. They 
were masters of ways and means. But in the settle- 
ment of this county, there seems to have been no cap- 
tain, none pre-eminently the leader. It was a genera- 
tion of down stream transportation ; the section south 
of the ridge soon came in touch with the population 
of the Ohio Valley, and later the broader highway of 
the Mississippi. It was easier for them to get their pro- 
ducts to the broader and richer Ohio than to their 
neighbors on the north. 

Contemporaneous with the building by General Mc- 
Mahan of his saw and grist mill, was the completion of 
the laying out of the Buffalo Road from Chautauqua 



Creek to the Pennsylvania line in 1804, the road having 
been opened by the State of Connecticut from Buffalo 
to Chautauqua Creek in 1802 for the purpose of enab- 
ling immigrants to reach the Western Reserve. 

In 1804 a license to keep a ferry at the mouth of 
Cattaraugus Creek was granted to William G. Sydnor. 
This was the first franchise granted in the county. 

The first road in the south part of the county was 
opened by Robert Miles from Sugargrove to Chautau- 
qua Lake in 1805 an d was a great highway of the wild- 
erness. As settlements increased, and saw and grist 
mills were established, the pioneers made narrow clear- 
ings through the forests to these mills and these clear- 
ings became the recognized highways of our time. For 
years Chautauqua Lake was much used as a means of 
travel — in the winter on the ice and in summer by 
canoes — when the lake was surrounded by a wilderness 
traversed by but few roads and these rudely made. 

Darius Dexter cut the first road from Mayville to 
the Cross Roads made after the settlement of the coun- 
ty. Monsieur Pean had in 1753 cut through the old 
French carrying place from Barcelona to Mayville 
known as the "Portage Road." There was so much 
of romance connected with the Quebec life of this 
French officer, Hugues Pean, that he has been made 
one of the conspicuous characters of some of the famous 
Canadian novels. His work in cutting this road through 
in four days was characteristic of the force and boldness 
of the man. It has come down in story as a great road, 
but was of little practical use except as marking the way 
for the occasional trappers and early explorers. 

In 1814 the first bridge across the outlet at James- 
town was completed by James Prendergast and was 
three hundred and twelve feet long. 

In 1816 the current of immigation set strongly to- 

8 



ward Chautauqua County, the woods were being ex- 
plored and lands were selected and purchased. The 
inhabitants of the county renewed their exertions to 
open roads and make improvements. At that time few 
of the streams were bridged and only the deepest mud- 
holes crosswayed. A crossway marked the neighbor- 
hood as getting ahead of the country in improvements. 

In early times in laying out roads, if there was a hill 
on the route, they were sure to go over it. But there 
were good reasons for taking the hill routes — the 
ground was much drier and roads more easily made. 

The first mail route through the county was estab- 
lished from Buffalo to Erie in 1806 and mail was carried 
by a man on foot, he carrying the mail in a pocket 
handkerchief. In 181 3 better facilities were provided, 
the mail being carried on horseback once a week ; later 
one horse for the mail and one for the postman. Up 
to that time communication between the inhabitants and 
the outer world was infrequent and difficult and was 
more often carried on through immigrants and explor- 
ers than through the mails. 

The average day's journey of the postman was from 
thirty to fifty miles in summer and much less in winter. 
Some years elapsed before the bulk and weight of the 
mails attained such proportions as to exceed the capac- 
ity of a pair of saddle-bags. For the security of mails 
carried over long distances there was no protection 
whatever. It was well known and loudly complained 
of that letters and packages were opened and their con- 
tents read and examined by the riders. Letters were 
not enclosed in envelopes. Nor was it till many years 
later, when the bulk and number of the mails had great- 
ly increased and the carriers found no time to read the 
notes they bore, that this flagrant evil ceased to exist. 

For a long time business men and men holding high 
9 



places in the state were accustomed to correspond in 
cipher. As stage-wagons and coaches became more 
and more common between the large towns, letters 
were entrusted to a friend or even to a stranger. 

The progression of the mail and express service has 
been almost in exact proportion with that of transporta- 
tion, the mail service being performed first on foot, then 
on horseback, then by horse and wagon, followed by 
four-horse post coaches, and then by the railroads. 

From a printed advertisement dated May 20, 1814, 
I find the following mail route advertised to be let : 

"From Buffalo by Cattaraugus, Canadewa, Pomfret 
and Chautaugha, to Erie, Pennsylvania, ninety-two 
miles, once a week, by a schedule to leave Buffalo every 
Saturday at noon, arriving at Erie the next Monday at 
6 P. M. Leave Erie every Tuesday at 6 A. M., arriving 
at Buffalo the next Thursday by noon." 

In 1829 a route was let to Gerrett Newbury from 
Dunkirk by Fredonia to Fluvanna, all in Chautauqua 
County, once a week. From Dunkirk by Fredonia, 
Shumla, Pulaske and Vermont to Jamestown, three 
times a week, in four-horse post coaches. Contractor, 
Ivy Handy, Jr. From Buffalo to Erie, Pennsylvania, 
daily, contract to Abell & Reed, in four-horse post 
coaches. From Mayville to Ellicottville, once a week 
by Isaac Carpenter. From Mayville to Erie, Pennsyl- 
vania, once a week. From Mayville to Waterford, Penn- 
sylvania, once a week. From Jamestown to Erie once 
in two weeks. From Mayville to Magnolia, once a week. 
From Mina to Westfield, once a week. 

During the early part of the century the rates of 
postage were : 

Single sheet of paper, less than forty miles, eight 
cents ; forty to ninety miles, ten cents ; ninety to one 
hundred fifty miles, twelve and one-half cents ; one hun- 



dred fifty to three hundred miles, seventeen cents ; three 
hundred to five hundred miles, twenty cents ; over five 
hundred miles, twenty-five cents. 

The rates of postage were so high that private mail 
routes were established and continued up to about 1847 
when stringent laws effectually prohibited the business. 
With these private mail routes, two or three private 
postoffices were established in the county. The post 
riders who were under little control also carried let- 
ters and papers outside the mails which gave them con- 
siderable additional revenue. The local mails were car- 
ried on the stages but other mails were carried in mail 
wagons. These mail pouches were not broken between 
Buffalo and Cleveland. 

Some years ago in our cities a mail delivery system 
was established and today rural mail routes are being 
established on all roads where it is physically feasible 
and nearly the entire population of Chautauqua County 
have their mails brought directly to their doors. As 
this system cannot be abandoned where it has been es- 
tablished, it cannot be maintained without being ex- 
tended. Every new route creates a demand from con- 
tiguous territory for the same privilege, and the rural 
mail delivery will gradually extend over the entire 
country. 

The first stage line between Buffalo and Erie was 
established by Bird & Deming of Westfield. Before 
the Ohio Stage Company took the contract for carrying 
mails west of Buffalo along the lake shore, a stage com- 
pany composed of T. G. Abell, Rufus Reed and Aarcn 
Rumsey covered the route and commenced weekly trips 
in December, 1820. In the spring and autumn ordinary 
two-horse wagons were used and express goods were 
carried once a week. 

The stages passed through Westfield every Tuesday 



afternoon and arrived at Buffalo on Thursday at noon. 
By January, 1824, a stage with mail was making semi- 
weekly trips between Erie and Cleveland. On the 10th 
of February, 1825, a mail coach commenced running 
daily between Erie and Buffalo. The stage line to Cleve- 
land consisted for a time of a single horse and wagon. 

It was considered a great stride forward when a 
line of four-horse coaches was placed on the road be- 
tween Buffalo and Cleveland by a company of which 
Rufus S. Reed and Ira R. Bird of Erie, Pennsylvania, 
were the chief men. This event, which took place in 
1827, was as much talked about as the opening of a new 
railroad would be today. The new line carried a daily 
mail each direction and was a source of large profit to 
its owners. Eighteen hours were allowed as the time 
between Buffalo and Erie, but bad roads and accidents 
often delayed the coaches much longer. 

The arrival of the stage in old times was a much 
more important event than that of a railroad train to- 
day. Crowds invariably gathered at the public houses 
where the coaches stopped, to obtain the latest news, 
and the passengers were persons of decided account for 
the time being. Money was so scarce that few settlers 
could afford to patronize the stages, and those who did 
were looked upon as fortunate beings. The stage- 
drivers were men of considerable consequence, especial- 
ly in the villages through which they passed. The^y 
were entrusted with many delicate messages and valua- 
ble packages, and seldom betrayed the confidence re- 
posed in them. They had great skill in handling their 
horses and were the admiration and envy of the boys. 

An advertisement in a Buffalo paper in 1827 read : 

"THE WESTERN MAIL COACH. 
"For Fredonia, Erie and Cleveland. Leaves Buf- 
falo every morning at five o'clock. Baggage at risk of 
the owners." 



Transportation by mail coach was from four to ten 
miles an hour and twelve miles was the maximum 
speed. The passenger rate from Buffalo to Westfield 
was six dollars. Fourteen pounds of luggage was al- 
lowed to be carried free by each passenger, but if his 
portmanteau or his brass t nail studded hair trunk 
weighed more he paid for it at the same rate per mile 
as he paid for himself. 

In summer the big coaches bowled along easily 
enough, the closely packed passengers beguiling the 
time with many a pleasant tale, until, "stage coach stor- 
ies" have become famous for their wit and jollity. But 
woe to the unlucky traveler, doomed to a stage coach 
experience in spring or fall. That he should be required 
to go on foot half the time was the least of his troubles. 
His services were frequently demanded to pry the coach 
from some mud-hole, in which it had sunk to the axle, 
with a rail abstracted from a neighboring fence, and 
through pieces of wood it was often thought best to 
take a rail along. "To go on foot and carry a rail" 
and pay for the privilege besides, was a method of stage 
riding as celebrated as it was unpleasant. 

The primitive method of conveying horses and car- 
riages over a stream too deep to be forded at a point 
where there was no bridge or no regular ferry, was in- 
teresting. The work was done by a boy paddling in a 
canoe not twice his own length. He first carried over 
the passengers one at a time. The next job was to 
ferry the baggage over, and this effected, the horses 
were towed across by the nose, an operation of some 
difficulty. Then a long rope was attached to the wagon 
and it was dragged across. 

Macks Ferry across the Cattaraugus was the princi- 
pal portal for immigration into Chautauqua in early 
years. John Mack was the ferryman who ferried them 

'3 



across and most hospitably entertained them at his tav- 
ern on the Chautauqua side. 

For years a continuous procession of white wagons 
passed over this ferry, generally displaying upon the 
canvas in large black letters "For the Holland Pur- 
chase." These were the palace cars of the day. The 
journey of the settlers who contemplated a home in 
Chautauqua County was usually less pretentious. They 
generally came with small means and with a yoke 
of oxen and wagon or cart and a small amount of 
household furniture. 

The great development of the New West naturally 
stimulated still greater improvement in transporta- 
tion. The rising manufactures in the East sought a 
market in the West, and the excitement over steam 
navigation and its opening possibilities greatly intensi- 
fied the eager interest in finding new outlets. One of 
the first and greatest of these was the Erie Canal. The 
success of the canal was immediate. At once the land 
of Western New York and that on the shores of the 
Great Lakes were in reach of a market. Before the 
canal was built the expense of transportation from Dun- 
kirk to New York was one hundred dollars per ton and 
the time was twenty days. Freight rates immediately 
dropped to fourteen dollars per ton and the trip was 
made in a third of the time. The tide of travel at once 
poured through the canal. 

The opening of the Erie Canal had the effect of 
temporarily depressing and retarding the settlement 
of the county as a whole as it changed the old lines 
of travel, although to the towns and country in the 
neighborhood of the canal it gave a powerful impetus. 

The completion of the Erie Canal dates the close of 
the true pioneer history of the county, but the methods 
of life of the pioneer did not entirely disappear until 

H 



about twenty-five years later, or about the time of the 
building of the New York & Erie Railroad when com- 
munication was still better established with the eastern 
towns and a still better market was obtained. 

A passenger canal boat has been described as a 
barge with a little house on it and a caravan within. 
Along each side of the cabin was a row of little tables 
which were put together in the center at meal time. At 
night three long tiers of hanging shelves were suspend- 
ed on either side of the cabin where, after drawing lots 
for their berths, the passengers were arranged edge- 
wise and covered by a microscopic sheet and blanket. 
The berths for the ladies were at one end behind a red 
curtain which was carefully drawn and pinned up the 
center. In the morning the shelves were taken down 
and put away and the tables again joined for breakfast. 
The meals were all alike — breakfast, dinner and supper 
being identical. 

Going on deck was a great relief notwithstanding 
the deck was very small and rendered still smaller by 
the storage of baggage, leaving only a little passage on 
either side. A diversion was the ducking every few 
minutes when the man at the helm cried "bridge," 
and when the cry was " low bridge, " to lie 
down nearly flat. There was pleasure and withal a 
grim of humor in it. The brisk walk along the tow 
path or the lazy motion of the boat when one lay idly 
on the deck with no other sound than the rippling of 
the water as the boat went on — these were pure de- 
lights. 

On May 24, 1826, the first four-horse stage left Dun- 
kirk for Warren, Pennsylvania. The editor of the Dun- 
kirk paper, proudly announcing the event, declared that 
any one who had favored such an enterprise five years 
previously would have been regarded as visionary and 



»S 



chimerical. Stages now plied between Dunkirk and 
Warren once a week, the service gradually improving 
until about 1848 when stages ran from Pittsburg to Buf- 
falo in less than three days. This Pittsburg route was 
owned by the Ohio Stage Company until sold out in 
1849. 

For years the roads were rough and muddy and 
horseback riding was the favorite mode of travel for 
the pioneer merchant or business man. 

The highway between Buffalo and Silver Creek was 
very bad but west of Silver Creek was a very good, 
passable road at most seasons of the year. There was 
more of a beach along the whole length of the lake than 
now, and until roads were improved, this was much used 
during the summer. 

The policy of granting charters to turnpike com- 
panies developed, giving the owners the privilege of 
imposing toll. Men possessing money were everywhere 
eager to invest in these enterprises. They not only saw 
the promise of dividends but ready sales for their lands. 
The roads ordinarily ran through the lands owned by 
the stockholders. Little regard was had for the grades. 
The main point was to make the lands accessible and 
marketable. 

These turnpike companies had authority to collect 
toll, for every space of ten miles in length, the follow- 
ing sums, and so on in proportion for a greater or less 
distance : For every score of sheep, one-eighth of a 
dollar ; for every score of hogs, one-eighth of a dollar ; 
for every score of cattle, one-fourth of a dollar ; for 
every horse and his rider, or a led horse, one-six- 
teenth of a dollar ; for every sulky or chaise 
with one horse and two wheels, one - eighth of 
a dollar; for every chariot, coach, stage, wagon, 
phaeton or chaise with two horses and four wheels, 

16 



one-fourth of a dollar ; for either of the carriages 
last mentioned with four horses, three-eighths of 
a dollar ; for every cart or wagon whose wheels do not 
exceed the breadth of four inches, one-eighth of a dol- 
lar for each horse drawing the same ; for every cart or 
wagon whose wheels shall exceed in breadth four in- 
ches and not exceed seven inches, one-eighth of a dol- 
lar for every horse drawing the same ; for every cart 
or wagon the breadth of whose wheels shall be more 
than ten inches and not exceed twelve inches, three 
cents for each horse drawing the same ; for every 
cart or wagon the breadth of whose wheels shall ex- 
ceed twelve inches, two cents for each horse drawing 
the same. The discrimination in tolls was very favor- 
able to broad wheeled wagons. 

Ox carts and ox sleds were oftener met with than 
horses and wagons. Most of the vehicles went upon 
two wheels. Only on the main road were chariots and 
coaches, gigs, carriages and stage coaches to be seen. 
When the distance was great, the farmer would mount 
his horse and take his wife on the pillion behind. When 
he drove the two-wheeled cart, his wife enjoyed the 
comforts of a chair. 

The first covered carriage owned in the county was 
an asset of the Prendergast family when they "settled 
here in 1805. It was of a type known as a traveling 
carriage used by the more fortunate of the people when 
traveling long distances. 

In all instances large and important bridges were 
built as corporate enterprises, and in a number of cases 
such continued for years to be toll bridges, or until 
the rights of the company were purchased bv the county 
and the bridges made free. The bridge tolls were gen- 
erally a trifle higher than the turnpike toll for ten mile 
spaces. 

17 



Rufus Reed built a toll bridge at Cattaraugus Creek 
about 1830. In low water the immigrants forded the 
creek above the bridge and saved the tolls. Near many 
of the turnpikes other roads were built to avoid the 
toll charges and were called "shunpikes." 

Plank roads were built from Westfield south through 
the western towns and from Dunkirk south through the 
eastern towns which greatly facilitated the conveyance 
of merchandise. Later other roads were built to con- 
nect with the north and south roads. These increased 
facilities for transportation advanced the nrice of but- 
ter, cheese and farmers' products and also made a mar- 
ket for many articles that before had none. In the 
building of these roads the roadbed was covered, as the 
name indicates, with heavy planks, and furnished an 
easy and pleasant thoroughfare. Though the travel was 
large, the roads did not prove profitable investments 
and were abandoned as plank roads and became town- 
ship roads mostly in the 6o's. 

The plank roads were constructed at a cost of about 
six hundred dollars per mile. All together there was 
about one hundred miles within the county built at a 
cost of about sixty thousand dollars. Not one of the 
roads paid expenses and repairs. The losses in opera- 
tion cost something about thirty thousand dollars more. 
So the entire investment to the stockholders was about 
ninety thousand dollars, which represented their loss. 

There were no great transportation methods for 
handling freight either on the lake road or in the inter- 
ior. The bulk of the freight coming from the east was 
shipped in the spring or autumn through the canal to 
the lake points by vessels. For that reason little freight- 
ing was done by wagons, the merchants uniformly em- 
ploying farmers and local teamsters in shipping out and 
bringing in their goods. 

18 



In 1835 the road along the lake shore was in its most 
prosperous period. The stages drawn by four or six 
horses were continually in use. The New England peo- 
ple were then settling the Western Reserve and the vast 
traffic brought easy prosperity to the people along the 
roads and built up towns and villages. Some of the 
inns accommodated twenty or thirty people and were 
full night after night. 

For some years before the beginning of the great 
railroad era when stage coaching on the lake road be- 
came a thing of the past, the Ohio Stage Coach Com- 
pany conducted the line from Buffalo to Cleveland and 
Chicago. The coaches were mostly four horse stages, 
but some six horse stages were run with inside and out- 
side seats for passengers. The four-horse coaches car- 
ried twelve passengers and ran in divisions of about 
twelve miles each. The usual summer runs were with 
five four-horse teams at each station, ordinarily running 
three coaches together but sometimes the entire five. 
In the winter they ran as high as thirty teams at a sta- 
tion and sometimes as many as twenty stages ran in a 
train. Some coaches were painted wine color and some 
yellow, with gold trimmings. The winter stages on 
runners were generally painted wine color, and for dec- 
oration, on the doors were pictures of the presidents and 
other public men. They were heated by a little stove 
under the driver's seat and so kept the driver and the 
inside of the coach warm. These sleighs carried from 
eighteen to twenty passengers. Teams and drivers 
changed at each station, but the coaches ran from sixty 
to eighty miles without changing. The passing in the 
night of these trains of coaches with their great lamps 
all lighted, running from eight to twelve miles an hour, 
was an inspiring sight. 

After the completion of the Lake Shore Railroad, 

'9 



all these stage coaches were taken to Chicago and 
placed on a route running from Chicago to the Missis- 
sippi River. The vehicles were made in Columbus, 
Ohio, and were of the thorough brace type. Stages 
were spoken of as "The Monopoly of the day — much 
talked of, much abused, but never wanting in efficiency." 

Many of the numerous taverns for the entertainment 
of travelers were opened with the encouragement of the 
Holland Land Company. It sold the intended land- 
lord a quantity of land, giving a liberal time for pay- 
ment, without interest, at the lowest price at which the 
company would sell its lands. So aside from the in- 
come derived from travelers, the concession of the Hol- 
land Land Company made hotel keeping attractive. 
The tavern keepers of those days were usually men of 
marked force of character, and wielded wide political 
influence. It is said that at one time there was not a 
mile along the lake road without a public house. 
Among the most noted of those old taverns were James 
McMahair s at the Cross Roads and D. Royce's at Rip- 
ley. Not more than one in ten of these public houses 
were other than log tenements. No tavern keeper was 
given a license who had not a securely enclosed yard 
large enough to contain all the sleighs, wagons, carts 
and other carriages of guests. Many of these early 
taverns passed away with the introduction of the stage 
coach and hardly any of them were left after the middle 
of the century. After that time the village inn took the 
place of the country tavern and it was the most fre- 
quented house in town. Charles Dickens left this pen 
picture of the village inn in the 40's : 

"The great room with its low ceiling and neatly 
sanded floor, its bright pewter dishes and stout backed, 
slat-bottomed chairs ranged along the walls, its long 
table, its huge fireplace, with the benches on either 



side, where the dogs slept at night, and where the guests 
sat, when the dipped candles were lighted, to drink mull 
and flip, possessed some attraction for everyone. The 
place was at once the town hall and the assembly room, 
the court house and the show tent, the tavern and the 
exchange. 

"On its doors were fastened the list of names drawn 
for the jury, notices of vendues, offers of rewards for 
stray cattle, the names of tavern haunters and advertise- 
ments of the farmers who had the best seed potatoes 
and the best seed corn for sale. It was there that wan- 
dering showmen exhibited their automatons and musi- 
cal clocks, that dancing masters gave their lessons, 
that singing school was held, that the caucus met, that 
the Colonel stopped during general training. Thither 
came the farmers from the back country, bringing their 
food in boxes and their horses' food in bags, to save 
paying the landlord more than lodging rates. Thither 
many a clear night in winter, came sleighloads of young 
men and women to dance and romp, and go home by 
the light of the moon. Thither, too, on Saturdays, came 
half the male population of the village. They wrangled 
over politics, made bets, played tricks, and fell into dis- 
putes which were sure to lead to jumping matches, or 
wrestling matches, or trials of strength on the village 
green. As the shadows lengthened, the loungers dis- 
persed, the tavern was closed, and quiet settled upon the 
town." A semblance of all this is still with us in our 
villages. 

The familiar picture, "The Reproduction of the Early 
Passenger Train," recalls an incident of travel over the 
Central Road in the 40's when trains were raised over 
the hill between Schenectady and Albany by a stationary 
engine connected with a long rope drawing the car up 
the hill and lowering: it on the other side. 



A traveler describing a New England railroad ride 
in the early 40's says : 

"There is a great deal of jolting, a great deal of 
noise, a great deal of wall, not much window, a locomo- 
tive engine, a shriek and a bell. The cars are like 
shabby omnibuses, but larger, holding thirty, forty, 
fifty people. The seats instead of stretching from end 
to end are placed crosswise. Each seat holds two per- 
sons. There is a long row of them on each side of the 
caravan, a narrow passage up the middle, and a door 
at both ends. In the center of the carriage there is 
usually a stove, fed with charcoal or anthracite coal, 
which is for the most part red-hot. It is insufferably 
close ; and you see the hot air fluttering between your- 
self and any other object you may happen to look at, 
like the ghost of smoke." 

Through the effort of Judge Marvin the first public 
meeting ever held anywhere to consider the building 
of the Erie Railroad was held in Jamestown in 1831. 
Judge Foote presided and Judge Marvin made the 
principal address. 

The first public movement in regard to the construc- 
tion of a railroad along the lake shore was held at Fre- 
donia in 1831. Its object was to organize for the build- 
ing of a road from Buffalo to the state line with the un- 
derstanding that it was to connect with one in Penn- 
sylvania. 

The act incorporating the New York & Erie Rail- 
road was passed in 1832 and also an act incorporating 
the Mayville & Portland Railway with a capital of one 
hundred fifty thousand dollars was passed the same 
year. This was the earliest suggestion of the road 
finished but today. It was intended to construct a rail- 
road from Portland Harbor to the head of Chautauqua 
Lake. 



The Governor's message of 1839 proposed three 
great lines of railroad through the state — the northern, 
the middle and the southern. These transportation 
projects always gave new heart to the people. 

The people were beginning to struggle with one of 
the great problems of our age — how to bring the farm 
near to the city. They knew that distance, speaking 
economically, is not measured in miles, but in time, 
money and effort. 

The completion of the Erie Railroad in 1851 marked 
the beginning of an era in the history of the county as 
did that of the Erie Canal twenty-five years before. 
The Erie Railroad brought direct and quick communi- 
cation with New York City and in 1852 the Buffalo & 
State Line Road was completed from Buffalo through 
Dunkirk to Erie, materially increasing the facilities for 
transporting products to market and stimulating im- 
provements in every part of the county. 

The great enterprise that Chautauqua County had 
so anxiously awaited through long years of doubt was 
consummated in May, 1851, when the New York & 
Erie, the then longest railroad in the world, was com- 
pleted to Dunkirk. The celebration which was held 
in Dunkirk has never been equalled by anything of the 
kind in the county. 

A company was formed to build a railroad from 
Dunkirk to the state line under the auspices of the New 
York & Erie Road. Some work was done. Had it 
been completed, it would have made Erie, Pennsyl- 
vania, the terminus of the New York & Erie Road. 

Dunkirk was a place of much importance for some 
years and its wharves and warehouses were utilized 
to their fullest capacity, but after the Erie was com- 
pleted from Hornellsville to Buffalo, its western divi- 

a 3 



sion became of minor importance and its line of steam- 
ers was withdrawn. 

Within a year after the New York & Erie was com- 
pleted, another important railroad was in operation 
through Northern Chautauqua — the Buffalo & State 
Line. About that time a road was organized in Erie 
to be built from Erie to the state line to connect with 
the Buffalo & State Line Road. This road was of six 
foot gauge. The roads in New York State were of four 
feet ten inch gauge. By the laws of Pennsylvania, at 
that time all roads entering Erie from the east were to 
be six feet or four feet eight and one-half inch gauge 
and all from the west four feet ten inches. The differ- 
ence in gauges was a serious inconvenience to the Rail- 
road Companies and to the public and on the 17th of 
November, 1853, a contract was entered into by which 
the road between the state line and Erie was to alter 
its track to four feet ten inches, making a uniform 
gauge from Buffalo to Cleveland. The change was 
effected in two months and completed February 1, 1854, 
when the first through train under the new arrangement 
passed through Chautauqua County from the East. 
This proposed change and consolidation created so 
much excitement that citizens gathered at some points 
on the route and tore down the bridges and took out 
the track across streets. Only a few citizens sided with 
the Railroad Company and they were treated as com- 
mon enemies. 

A few years afterward, the Erie & North East and 
the Buffalo & State Line Railroads were consolidated 
under the title of the Buffalo & Erie Railroad. Some- 
time in the 6o's a consolidation of the roads was effect- 
ed, making one management from Buffalo to Chicago, 
the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. 

Railroads were chartered as common carriers and 

*4 



not as forwarders ; hence as conceived and for many 
years conducted, the duties of the company ceased when 
the end of their rails was reached. Thus there grew 
up in the early days a class of forwarders from terminal 
points that undertook to transfer goods from one rail- 
road to another and arrange for the forwarding of same 
to their destination. Shippers had to bear the expense 
of such intermediate service. For example — a dozen 
different companies, separately owned and operated, 
constituted the route from New York to Cleveland. 
Hence we are apt to underrate the initial undertaking of 
consolidation. The policy thus pursued was speedily 
followed through the country. 

The tendency to combine which spread with amaz- 
ing rapidity alarmed the public, and legislative commit- 
tees were appointed to devise remedies for the alleged 
evil, but as there could be no effective way of stopping 
people from controlling all they were able to buy, the 
process went on. Eventually the interests of a few 
had to yield to the good of the many, and by the union 
of independent lines into through routes, the service to 
the public was improved and cheapened and the new 
order gained favor. 

That railroads would handle long distance traffic, 
that they would create new industries, or that they 
would compete successfully with water routes was not 
expected by anybody. The competition of the New 
York Central with the Erie Canal was met with severe 
criticism. Mass meetings were held to insist upon the 
passage of laws that should stifle such competition. In 
1870 canals were compelled to abolish their tolls. The 
rates were reduced again and again. So large a part 
of the expense of railroad transportation is connected 
with loading and unloading rather than with the actual 
haul that the cost of service does not increase in pro- 
portion to the distance. 



The railroad is essentially a monopoly, and speaking 
generally, moderation in rates is to be secured not by 
competition but by some other force — by the pressure 
of public opinion, by public authority, or by the self 
interest of the roads acting through a desire to increase 
the movement of commodities by offering transporta- 
tion at a lower price, transportation being something 
upon which every considerable branch of industry is 
immediately and vitally dependent. 

The capital for building American roads was so scarce 
that great economy was used in the road-beds and 
tracks, and to offset this deficiency, we developed a 
superior system of equipment. To make up for the 
greater liability to collision and accident, a system of 
car construction was devised with longitudinal instead 
of transverse arrangement of beams as in Europe which 
rendered accidents far less disastrous when they oc- 
curred. In this development of car equipment, George 
M. Pullman, a native of Chautauqua, has been the 
leader. 

It was for Mr. Pullman to solve the problem of long 
continuous railway journeys. In a sixty-mile night ride 
from Buffalo to Westfield in 1858 he occupied a bunk 
in one of the so-called sleeping cars of that period. 
The car was modeled after the sleeping bunks in use 
on passenger boats on the canals and consisted of 
three tiers of shelves on each side of the car, and was 
scarcely more comfortable than the ordinary day 
coaches. That ride was the dawn of comfort on wheels. 
In 1859, with neither power nor influence and un- 
known to the railway world, he induced the Chicago & 
Alton Railroad Company to remodel two of the old day 
coaches of their road into sleeping cars, using a patent 
which he bought, supplemented by improvements of 
his own. Soon after he commenced the construction 

26 



of a sleeping car that was destined to revolutionize 
travel and rightly associate his name inseparably with 
progress in railway equipment. This car was named 
"The Pioneer" and was built upon the correct principles 
which are now the standard of all first class sleeping 
cars and represented the highest achievement in the 
machinery of passenger transportation just as does the 
Pullman car of today. From the completion of that 
car, the Pullman has never been dislodged from the 
dominant position it took in one leap at the very out- 
set. "The Pioneer" cost $18,000 and the car which 
came after it cost $24,000. 

It was Mr. Pullman who taught the world that you 
can take a luxurious meal while riding at the rate of 
fifty miles an hour just as it was he who made it possible 
for a man to do a day's work in one city and arise re- 
freshed and ready for another day's work in another 
city hundreds of miles away. It is an interesting specu- 
lation as to how much this convenience, by multiplying 
many times the working capacity of the individual, has 
added to the total industrial energy of the country. 

Whatever inventive genius Mr. Pullman possessed 
culminated in the vestibule, which makes a solid yet 
perfectly sinuous train with practically absolute immuni- 
ty from danger to passengers even in most violent col- 
lision, and with a possible exception of the introduction 
of the air brake, which puts the control of the train 
completely in the hands of the engineer, there has been 
no event of railway development so important in secur- 
ing safety to the traveling public as the invention of 
the Pullman vestibule. We now start out from any 
city in the United States, Canada or Mexico and travel 
to all accessible parts of the North American continent 
over different railroads and we find the one harmonious, 
perfectly administered system of transportation. Wheth- 
a 7 



er you go aboard a Pullman car in New York or Ari- 
zona, you find the same beautiful surroundings, the 
same cleanliness and order, the same comfort and at- 
tentive service. You may pass under one roof from 
your dining room to your sitting room or your sleeping 
room as in your own home. 

Steel rails were introduced in 1870 and the use of 
stronger bridges rendered heavier loading safe. The 
improvements in tracks, in bridges, in rolling stock and 
in locomotives have made it possible with a given 
amount of fuel and train service expense to accomplish 
in actual hauling ten times the amount that was possi- 
ble a generation ago. 

Ail this has revolutionized economic conditions. 
The whole world is brought next door. 

A marvelous change in the passenger equipment 
has taken place, but still more marvelous is the change 
that has been effected in the locomotive. The first en- 
gine drew but thirty tons on the level road ; a locomo- 
tive built today with ten wheels coupled is guaranteed 
to haul three thousand five hundred tons of freight on 
a level road, which exceeds the burden of an average 
ocean liner, and a large modern freight car has a ca- 
pacity of fifty tons. 

A long uninterrupted enjoyment of public blessings 
and a familiarity with their use tend to make us un- 
mindful of their magnitude. 

The Atlantic & Great Western Railroad had been 
completed through Chautauqua County in i860, giving 
Chautauqua County a rail outlet to the east and west; 
and with it practically came the passing of the stage 
coach days. Its advent into Jamestown was celebrated 
by bonfires, speeches and general jollification, not since 
equalled except in the great celebration of the termina- 
tion of the Civil War. 

28 



The Cross-Cut Railroad was built from Corry, Penn- 
sylvania, to Brocton in 1867 to secure a lake outlet for 
the Oil Creek Railroad and a connection with the Lake 
Shore Railroad independent of the Philadelphia & Erie. 
These routes were consolidated under one management 
and have become a part of the Pennsylvania system, 
providing a railroad outlet for Chautauqua and neigh- 
boring towns. 

In the revolution of the railroad operation, rates 
were adjusted on a mileage basis, and competitive points 
were favored, which led to a mania for railroad construc- 
tion. Aid was voted by municipalities and a network 
of railroads sprang into existence. Among these roads 
to which aid was given was the Dunkirk, Allegheny Val- 
ley & Pittsburg Railroad, opened in 1871, connecting 
the northern and southern parts of the county. The 
capital on which the road was completed was largely 
subscribed by the towns along the road. The system of 
heating cars by steam from the locomotive was first 
in use on this road and was the invention of William 
Martin of Dunkirk. This heating system did much for 
the comfort of the traveling public. 

The New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad 
(Nickel Plate) was organized in 1880 to built a rail- 
road from Buffalo to Chicago by way of Dunkirk, Erie 
and Cleveland, and the first through passenger train 
crossed Chautauqua County August 31, 1882. In the 
winter of 1882-3, the road was purchased in the interest 
of the Lake Shore. It has been run in harmony with 
that line, although a separate organization and an ap- 
parent competition are kept up. 

The Chautauqua Lake Railroad was opened in 1888, 
being completed to Mayville May nth of that year, and 
was in June, 1902, completed to Westfield. This road 
has been of material value to Jamestown as it has fur- 
nished a competing line of transportation. 



*9 



The earliest American sailing vessel on Lake Erie 
was a small boat owned and run by Captain William Lee 
in which he carried passengers and light articles of 
freight between Buffalo and Erie touching at Barcelona. 
She was constructed to use oars in going against the 
wind and had no crew, the passengers being obliged to 
work their passage. 

The first strictly sailing vessel that touched at a 
Chautauqua port was the "Washington," built in Erie in 
1798, and was employed some twelve years. Before the 
War of 1812, a dozen vessels composed the whole mer- 
chant fleet of the lake and averaged sixty tons. The 
chief article of freight was salt. The first steamboat 
navigating Lake Erie was the "Walk-in-the-Water" 
launched in 1813. Afterward came the "William Penn" 
in 1826, built by the Erie & Chautauqua Steamboat 
Company. After that there were several steamers stop- 
ping at Chautauqua points. 

The "Walk-in-the-Water's" rates from Buffalo to 
Dunkirk were three dollars and from Dunkirk to Erie 
three dollars ; Dunkirk to Detroit fifteen dollars. The 
facilities for travel afforded by this boat brought Chau- 
tauqua County a little nearer the East, lessening the 
time and increasing the number of passengers to and 
from Buffalo. 

Further communication with Buffalo was opened by 
means of the "Pioneer" and steamboats going to the far 
western points were induced to call at Dunkirk for the 
convenience of those who were western bound and gave 
a new impetus to the general trade and improvement of 
the county. In 1827 the steamboat "Pioneer" made reg- 
ular trips between Buffalo and Dunkirk and a line of 
stages between Dunkirk and Erie connected with that 
steamer. There were several small harbors on the lake 
shore — Silver Creek, Dunkirk and Barcelona. 

30 



In 1846 a daily steamboat line was established be- 
tween Erie and Buffalo. Up to 1845 a ^ the lake steam- 
boats used wood for fuel giving employment to a large 
number of Chautauqua men and teams. 

Except for a few years after that, Chautauqua has 
realized but little benefit from Lake Erie navigation, and 
the extension of the Erie Railroad from Hornellsville to 
Buffalo cut off future possibilities. 

In 1820 the first expenditure of public money within 
this county was made in improving the facilities of navi- 
gating Lake Erie, when four thousand dollars was ap- 
propriated for a lighthouse at Dunkirk Harbor; three 
thousand dollars was appropriated for a breakwater the 
next year, and further appropriations have been ex- 
pended from time to time on that harbor. 

A lighthouse was built at Silver Creek in 1828 at an 
expense of thirty-five hundred dollars. In 1829 a light- 
house was built at Barcelona and illuminated by natural 
gas carried in pump logs from the gas spring. 

The last appropriation for the benefit of the Chautau- 
qua ports was an appropriation of four hundred fifty 
thousand dollars made by Congress in 1897 for deepen- 
ing Dunkirk Harbor. As yet little benefit to shipping 
has been realized from this appropriation. 

There are men living in whose infancy ship-building 
and navigation, so far as motive power and material of 
construction are concerned, had not essentially changed 
since the beginning of the Christian era, but during the 
past century these occupations have been so revolution- 
ized in every phase that the facts of 1800 put beside the 
facts of 1900 are interesting chiefly to the antiquarian. 

The perfection of the service on the Great Lakes is 
well shown at the mouth of the Detroit River. At that 
point, during the open season of eight months, a steam- 
ship passes every three and a half minutes day and night, 

31 



the total tonnage exceeding that entering ports of New 
York and Liverpool in a whole year. The flying delivery 
of mails to "these ships that pass in the night" has no 
parallel elsewhere. Every steamer is met and mail col- 
lected and delivered without even slowing up. Orders 
from headquarters, messages from home, letters written 
on the trip, the thousand and one communications to 
and from an enormous fleet moving in an ever-chang- 
ing panorama, are all handled in this great exchange on 
the water. Letters are stamped on the back each with 
the name of the steamer it is intended for, in characters 
so large that they can be read by lamplight ; they are en- 
closed in water-tight bags, so that if the boat carrying 
them should be upset, the mails would float uninjured 
and are hauled on board the passing vessels, while the 
return mails are received and an exchange is effected 
without deviating from the course or slackening the 
speed. 

Before and after the settlement of Jamestown, keel 
and Durham boats and large canoes passed up and 
down the Conewango, the Outlet and Chautauqua Lake 
to Mayville carrying furs and salt and many of the 
articles of early traffic. This manner of traffic con- 
tinued well through the first half of the century. 

The first effort toward improving the navigation of 
the waters of Chautauqua was in 1820 when a company 
was incorporated for the purpose of improving the navi- 
gation of the Cassadaga and Conewango Creeks to the 
state line. Several miles of the upper part of the Cassa- 
daga Creek were cleared and a boat built, but owing to 
the many turnings, navigation was found to be impracti- 
cable. 

The navigation by keel boats was no small affair, as 
all the iron, nails, window glass, bacon, flour, grind- 
stones, and a great variety of other goods essential to 

3 * 



the life of the settlers were poled up the Allegheny and 
Conewango from Pittsburg. The pot-ash and black 
salts found a ready market in Pittsburg as both were 
used in making glass in their factories. A part of the 
other loading for down the river trips was deer and 
bear skins, furs and maple sugar. 

The saw-mill owners were obliged, when building 
their dams on the Conewango, to construct locks to al- 
low boats to pass. After the commerce became more 
considerable, horses were used in drawing these boats. 

The first steamboat on Chautauqua Lake was built 
in 1827 by a company headed by Alvin Plumb and was 
named "Chautauqua." A larger boat was built in 1835 
named "Robert Falconer." Others followed and were 
abandoned or burned until it is said that between forty 
and fifty steamboats have been built. In 1846 Emery 
Warren's history speaks of Chautauqua Lake as the 
"most elevated body of water on which a steamboat 
floats in the known world." 

The present fleet owned by the Chautauqua Steam- 
boat Company consists of eight good sized, well 
equipped and well managed steamers. There are num- 
erous other small steamboats owned outside of the 
Chautauqua Steamboat Company and over one hundred 
small private yachts. 

During the stage coach days and down to 1870, 
there was a large amount of passenger and freight busi- 
ness done by the boats. Steamers connected with 
stages from Westfield and on the way down the lake 
passengers were served with excellent fish suppers that 
became famous. In 1871, by the explosion of the boiler 
of the "Chautauqua," fourteen passengers were killed. 
This is the only case of loss of life or serious accident 
to a passenger on any of the Chautauqua Lake boats. 
After that but little passenger business was done down 

33 



to the time of the opening- of the Chautauqua Assembly. 
The business of the boats was almost entirely freight. 
Season tickets were fifteen dollars each and single pas- 
sage one dollar each. In 1883 the Red Stack Line reduced 
season tickets to one dollar with trip tickets twenty- 
five cents, and only entire strangers were asked to pay 
that. Liquor was sold on all the boats up to 1885. 
Since that, conditions have steadily improved, and cour- 
tesy, comfort, luxury and safety are found on all the 
boats. 

Chautauqua Lake has taken a vast part in the busi- 
ness development of the county and the policies of the 
companies managing the transportation have been lib- 
eral and beneficent. 

Back in the 30's a curious kind of an omnibus car — 
the "John Mason" by name — was drawn by horses over 
strap rails laid on stone ties through Fourth Avenue 
in New York. This was the first passenger street rail- 
way ever built. It was not a success and no others 
were projected until twenty years later when a sort of 
a boom in street railroad construction appeared in the 
50's. 

The street railroad is distinctively an American idea 
but has lately found lodgment throughout the world. In 
1873 the cable car was ushered in and not until about 
'80 did a practical electric railway appear, Edison hav- 
ing built the first electric railroad in America that year, 
and the cable car is now a thing of the past except on 
very abrupt grades. The first electric railroad seeking 
business was built in Chicago in 1883. 

In 1887 the success of electric railways was still 
trembling in the balance. The trolley was a heavy four 
wheel truck that ran on two wires and was drawn after 
the car by a flexible cable. The movement did not 
spread to smaller cities until about 1890. Radical im- 

34 



provements in electric apparatus marked the progress of 
the year and the system now in vogue was generally 
adopted. 

The first street railroad company in the county, the 
Dunkirk & Fredonia, was chartered in 1864. The organ- 
ization was completed in 1865 with Thomas L. Higgins, 
President. The road commenced operations in Septem- 
ber, 1866, having a strap rail for track. Dr. M. M. 
Fenner became President in 1880. In 1890 the road 
was rebuilt and the motor power changed from horse 
to electricity, with a new rail and elaborate car equip- 
ment. In 1894 the company installed a steam heating 
plant and is successfully heating many of the public and 
private buildings of Fredonia. They also operate the 
electric light and power plant and the Fredonia natural 
gas plant. 

The Jamestown Street Railroad (horse street rail- 
road) was incorporated in 1883 and was put in operation 
in 1884, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. 
John T. Wilson was the first President of the James- 
town Street Railroad. Mr. Wilson remained President 
of the road for two years when he was succeeded by 
Robert N. Marvin ; he in turn was succeeded by James 
B. Ross who served until 1889 when Almet N. Broad- 
head was elected President. In 1891 the motor power 
was changed to electricity and the mileage of the road 
greatly extended. The company now own and operate 
twenty-two miles of track and forty-eight cars. 

The Dunkirk and Point Gratiot Traction Company 
was organized in 1900 with Daniel F. Toomey President. 
The road is operated only during the summer months. 

The father of the present bicycle was the hobby 
horse. Hobby horse riding was a popular form of 
amusement early in the century. In 1866 cranks were 
first applied to the front wheel. It was really introduced 



35 



in the year 1790 and was used with a stationary front 
wheel for about thirty years. About 1818 the front 
wheel was placed in a fork which was capable of a ro- 
tary movement. The velocipede bears date of 1870. 
The wheels were of unequal size, the driving wheel being 
in front and operated by cranks and pedals. The wheels 
were of the buggy type. Then in 1878 came a machine 
with a rear wheel very much reduced in dimensions, 
with a roller brake on the back wheel operated by a 
leather thong tightened by turning the handle bar in its 
bearings, and was the first to be fitted with rubber tires 
carried in half-round hollow iron rims. In 1882 came 
the ball-bearing, which was the highest development of 
the wheels of the "Ordinary" type. The "Safety" ma- 
chines came in in 1883. In 1884 came the first rear 
driven chain "Safety" in this country. The "Safety" 
type was fully developed in 1889 and in this was shown 
the first careful finish and attention to detail. The cush- 
ion tire of this machine paved the way for the pneu- 
matic tire. The fully developed machines of 1896 con- 
tained all the essential modern improvements of the 
type, but the last machine, the one of 1900, is supposed 
to represent the acme of bicycle construction, being the 
chainless machine with reduced weight to twenty-five 
pounds. 

During the time that the bicycle was a fad, when 
thousands of bicycles were in use in the county, several 
local establishments manufactured them — notably the 
Fenton Metallic Company — but the strong competition 
made their manufacture unprofitable and all discontin- 
ued their production. The bicycle has taken a strong 
place as a practical method of travel and will probably 
not be dislodged from its place of utility. It was the 
first vehicle to usher in the dawn of the good roads 
movement. The Century Cycle Club of Jamestown 

36 



made the first movement toward building a sidepath, the 
first work being done in 1896. Other sidepaths followed 
in different parts of the county. 

While we have smoothed the way by bringing en- 
ergy to bear upon the movement of goods and remov- 
ing the obstructions to such service on our railways, our 
common roadways remain about as they have been for 
a generation. They are bad in design, bad in construc- 
tion, wasteful in cost, and almost useless through a part 
of each year in every section. 

The traveler abroad cannot but notice the excel- 
lence of the country roads and mark the contrast be- 
tween them and those in all parts of our own county. 
Our people, engrossed in other matters, have until re- 
cently shown little tendency to take up the problem of 
rural transportation in a systematic and thoughtful man- 
ner. The saving would be not only direct in decreas- 
ing the cost of transportation but indirect in enabling 
the farmer to choose the time of bringing his produce 
to market. 

To secure a good system of country roads, two 
things are necessary — a considerable expenditure of 
money and a better system of administration. No com- 
prehensive or far-sighted policy can be expected until 
the roads are classified and those of general importance 
maintained at the general expense and in a condition 
suitable to the amount of traffic that passes over them. 
The good roads movement is an unmistakable sign of 
a new commercial period whose extent is not yet per- 
ceived but whose beginnings will in the future doubtless 
be marked as a remarkable epoch in the history of com- 
merce. 

The good roads movement, the bicycle and the auto- 
mobile have come upon us nearly hand in hand. Some 
of the older ones among us have witnessed the ab- 

37 



sorption of the stage coach and the wagon by the rail- 
road, and only in poetry have postilions and the old 
stage coach left any traces. 

We now to all appearances stand at the beginning of 
a new process of absorption of the same kind which 
probably will assume far greater dimensions than the 
first. It is a question of the displacement of horses by 
the motor. Of course it is not for the present imagined 
that the absorption will be so complete a one as in the 
case of the stage coach and wagon, but in the public 
traffic, both passenger and trucking, in the cities it will 
soon to all appearances be as complete as is today the 
overthrow of the horse for street railroad service. 

The automobile has entered modern life as a factor 
of high economic significance. Never before has Ameri- 
can genius and enterprise created so important a busi- 
ness interest as their manufacture in so short a time. It 
is a significant fact that more vehicles — five times over — 
are being exported than are sold here at" home. The 
utility of the automobile in any city or country is in 
direct proportion to the condition of its streets and 
roads, and that it has met with such acceptance in 
France is because the highways are all as smooth as 
park paths. 

The development of motive power is sure to be 
rapid. The weakness of the present machine is not in 
the automobile itself but in the driving qualities. Those 
well informed on the subject say that an electric battery 
will soon carry a vehicle one hundred miles with one 
charge while the present limit is fifty miles, and that in 
every other way the new battery is to be far superior 
to that which has been in use. The coming power is 
electricity for cities and gasoline for touring. The new 
machines will undoubtedly overcome the defective high- 
ways. 

38 



There are now but a dozen automobiles owned in 
the county, the first one being a gasoline motor pur- 
chased in 1900 by Charles M. Hamilton of Ripley. That 
we have no more in the county is owing to the fact that 
our roads are in such bad condition. 

LUMBERING. 

Thomas R. Kennedy of Meadville, Pennsylvania, 
was the first man to commence the onslaught on the 
forests of Chautauqua County, he having purchased 
three thousand acres of land in Poland on the Conewan- 
go Creek in 1804 and commenced lumbering in 1805. 

General McMahan had built a small saw and grist 
mill at Westfield in 1804, but Dr. Kennedy was clearly 
the pioneer in conducting lumbering as a business. His 
mill was the first one completed in the county and his 
the first step in the way of improvements of any kind 
taken south of the ridge. The first boards manufactured 
at his mills were marketed in New Orleans, the hands 
returning by sea to Philadelphia and from there walking 
home. 

Small saw mills were built in Silver Creek, Forest- 
ville and Fredonia, the first in 1805 and the last two in 
1806. 

The water power of Chautauqua Lake was first uti- 
lized by Edward Work at the present Village of Fal- 
coner in 1808. This mill was the second structure of 
the kind on the waters of this county which flow south- 
ward into the Allegheny River. The first lumber cut 
at Work's mill was sawed into plank for flat-boats in 
which salt was shipped from Mayville to Pittsburg. 
Subsequently the product was shipped to New Orleans. 

The Kennedy mill and the Work mill have since been 
continuously operated and these mills have laid the 
foundation for several independent fortunes. 

39 



Connected with the early saw mills which sprang 
up in all parts of the county, their owners built grist 
mills. Before the building of the grist mills, the scat- 
tering settlers had begun to raise grain which they pre- 
pared for food by pounding with a hominy block and 
some were compelled to travel to Buffalo, or to Erie 
or Franklin, Pennsylvania, for supplies of flour for their 
families, paying twenty or thirty dollars a barrel when 
obtained and carrying the flour home on their should- 
ers. The grist mills bridged over a great chasm for the 
pioneers. 

Other saw mills were started in the north part of the 
county and some attempts were made to raft lumber to 
Buffalo by lake, but never with practical result. 

James Prendergast completed the first mill at James- 
town in 1812. The Prendergast mill and the Kennedy 
mill manufactured the largest amount of lumber of any 
during the same time in the county. They used gang 
saws, were run night and day, and each mill sawed from 
two to three million feet annually. All these early mills 
used flutter wheels with a horizontal shaft. This type 
of wheel continued in use until the early 50's when re- 
action wheels on an upright shaft were substituted. 

The inroads upon the pines extended and continued 
in Southern Chautauqua until the pine forests substan- 
tially disappeared. The mills on the Cassadaga alone 
are said to have produced five million feet of lumber an- 
nually and that it required several hundred men in flood 
time to run the rafts to the Allegheny. The lumber 
south of the ridge was largely rafted to Pittsburg. That 
on the lake shore was shipped to Cleveland, Buffalo and 
the New York markets. 

Our primeval forests became the wonders of the 
day and their fame extended even to Europe. No other 
section of the American continent produced pines of 

40 



such quality and size as Southern Chautauqua and the 
Conewango Valley. They represented great wealth. 
The vast water power which everywhere penetrated the 
forests rendered their conversion into lumber and ship- 
ment to market easy by continuous water power through 
the great Mississippi Valley. 

The business of lumbering in its various branches 
dominated the whole southern section of the county dur- 
ing the first half of the century and this was the school 
in which many business men were educated. The pros- 
perity of Jamestown and all the southern part of the 
county is in great measure due to the active enterprise 
of the men who were trained in this school, and James- 
town's foundation as a manufacturing town is largely 
owing to the fact that only in this section had sufficient 
wealth been accumulated (through the lumber business) 
to furnish capital to establish manufacturing concerns. 
These men had come in contact with the outer world 
and were seeking profitable investment for their capital. 
They were men of strong will, great capacity, and pos- 
sessed great financial ability. 

The dealings between the early lumbermen were 
more like struggles between strong powers than ordi- 
nary business transactions and often led to bitter con- 
troversies. The spirit of contention seemed to be con- 
tagious and a great battle for business and social su- 
premacy was waged. 

Much of the fine timber was wasted in the most im- 
provident way. Cherry was used as freely as hemlock 
and often logged and burned. If the original pine tim- 
ber stood in Southern Chautauqua today, it would be 
worth much more than the present assessed valuation 
of the entire county. The middle of the century marks 
the passing of the pines. After that, for a quarter of a 
century further inroads were made on the now valuable 
41 



hardwoods, and as the three-quarter mark of the cen- 
tury came and as time progressed, hemlock has become 
more and more valuable and has been marketed at great 
profit. We have now little valuable timber left and lum- 
bering in a large way is a business of the past 

It is impossible to place an estimate on the value of 
the annual harvest of our forests. It was so lucrative a 
business from the beginning that little economy in their 
destruction was used. The diameter of the merchant- 
able pine logs diminished from twenty inches in the 
30's to six inches at the present time. The same 
general condition of ratio holds good as to the valua- 
ble hardwoods and hemlocks. When we consider the 
waste of our trees now going to the slaughter, any re- 
cuperation of our forest resources seems impossible. 

MERCHANDISING. 

Samuel Wilkinson, afterwards Buffalo's leading citi- 
zen, became a resident of Portland and engaged exten- 
sively in the salt trade, transporting his salt over the 
portage to Chautauqua Lake down the Allegheny and 
Ohio Rivers. He purchased his salt at Salina, it cost- 
ing him sixteen dollars per barrel delivered at Portland. 
His business proved somewhat disastrous, as in 1812 
salt works were opened on the Ohio River and put 
an abrupt end to the demand from the south. 

The fir^t real merchant of the county was Elisha 
Risley who established a store in Fredonia in 1808 
when he was a young man of twenty. He was a sturdy, 
forcible man and conducted his business successfully. 
He was a man of culture and high character. He after- 
wards held various offices in the county, served as 
Sheriff and at one time represented his district in Con- 
gress. He was also a Major General in the State Mil- 
itia, and in the early history of the New York & Erie 

42 



Railroad was a director. Together with his brother 
William, in 1834 he established the Risley Gardens and 
was the first seeds producer and seeds merchant in the 
county. 

A store was opened at the present Village of Irvine- 
ton and one at Westfield the same year, but both sub- 
sequent to the Risley enterprise. 

William Peacock, a surveyor in the employ of the 
Holland Land Company, had been made agent of the 
company and settled in Mayville in 1810. Jedediah and 
Martin Prendergast established a store there in 181 1. 
Mayville at that time was attracting attention as a prom- 
ising place. The same firm opened the first store in 
Jamestown in 1814, but were never residents of that 
place. 

Silas Tiffany, the first resident merchant of James- 
town, established a store in 1816 and conducted the 
business for many years. Aside from his early mer- 
chandising, he was a large manufacturer and shipper 
of lumber, as were many of the principal merchants who 
followed him. He was a man correct in deportment, 
refined and gentle, pleasant of speech and pure of 
thought. 

A store, a place where a real merchant dispensed 
calico, tea, nails, molasses, ribbons and salt, marked a 
decided advance in civilization and almost always was 
the nucleus of a hamlet which has since developed into 
a thriving village ; and it was almost entirely on credit 
that sales were made. 

Notwithstanding the cheapness of paper money, 
bonds and mortgages were still cheaper. There was 
no such thing as land clear of incumbrance. Second and 
third mortgages were common. 

Stores developed on all sides, increasing with the 
population and the demand for merchandise. In 1819 

43 



a merchant in Dunkirk advertised that he had for sale 
dry goods, crockery, hardware, glassware, groceries, 
Dutch bolting cloths, potash kettles, iron and steel, 
anvils, vises, cranks, screws, saws, nails, etc., and also 
did storage and forwarding. The stocks of the early 
stores made the diversity of the present department 
store ancient history. 

Dunkirk had about fifty inhabitants in 1825 when 
Walter Smith, a man remarkable for energy and busi- 
ness capacity, was attracted to that place by its ad- 
vantages as a lake port with a fine harbor open to navi- 
gation two weeks earlier than Buffalo. He had broad 
views of business enterprise and was fitted for large 
undertakings. He became at once the controlling power 
of Dunkirk and the most influential business man in 
the county. Through his capital, his prestige and his 
remarkable talent for business, daily stages for passen- 
gers and a wagon line for the transportation of freight 
were at once established on roads tributary to Dunkirk. 

In early years the country store with its ashery was 
a public institvition. The merchant was a public bene- 
factor. No business enterprise could be carried out 
successfully without his advice and assistance. He not 
only furnished the material to build and complete the 
pioneers' houses and barns, and supplies essential to 
their family support and comfort, but he was their 
banker and business advisor also. Scarcely a farm was 
cleared, a building built or a highway opened that he 
did not in some way give assistance. In many cases 
these highways were in part his place of business, as 
many of the merchants sent out peddling wagons sup- 
plying the surrounding country with notions and ne- 
cessities from door to door, exchanging their wares 
for whatever the farmer had to dispose of. 

In 1844 occurred the most terrific storm ever known 

44 



on Lake Erie. The wharves at the different Chautau- 
qua points were washed away, the merchandise scat- 
tered along the shore, and a large amount of property 
belonging to the Chautauqua County merchants lost. 
Nearly all the merchandise brought into the county 
came through these Lake Erie ports in spring and 
autumn and was transported inland in farmers' wagons. 
The blow was felt on all sides but recovery was rapid. 
The warehouses that were built at Silver Creek, Dun- 
kirk and Barcelona in 1830-31 were either partially or 
entirely demolished by this storm, but were rebuilt and 
conducted until rendered useless by the opening of the 
Lake Shore Railroad. 

Jamestown was the depot of supplies for the lum- 
bering camps located on all the southern streams. 

How simple a delight was the society of the mid- 
dle of the century ! The etiquette of the time was of 
the heart. The temper of the people was joyous and 
merry. The merchants and professional men were 
never too busy for a joke and it was a dull day that did 
not furnish the village with a laugh ; but all these little 
comedies and tragedies, that rich tide of human interest 
flowing through this secluded stream passed long ago. 

Merchandising today is more clearly defined. The 
work of the merchant is thoroughly systematized and 
complex. The volume of business has gradually in- 
creased. The tendency has been constantly growing 
toward a cash basis on all business and the merchant 
does but little in the way of barter. The poetry and 
sentimentality of merchandising are gone. 

BANKS. 

Following the expiration of the charter of the 
United States Bank in 181 1, state banks were organized 
in New York and neighboring states but none on the 

45 



Hollared Purchase. In 1816 the second Bank of the 
United States began its career of twenty years. That 
institution had a large capital, twenty-five branches (the 
parent bank was at Philadelphia) and had a monopoly 
of the government business. 

Banks in the early history of the state were thought 
of as favors to be granted to political adherents and 
accordingly certain institutions were customarily re- 
garded as Federalist Banks or Republican Banks as the 
case might be. So acute were the struggles in the Leg- 
islature for these privileges and so much scandal re- 
sulted that in 1821 a two-thirds vote of each house was 
made a requisite to granting a bank charter. 

In 1 83 1 there was no bank in New York State 
nearer Chautauqua County than the branch of the 
United States Bank at Buffalo. The nearest state in- 
stitution was at Lockport and there was no bank in 
the southern tier of counties west of the Hudson River. 
The population of Jamestown was a little above one 
thousand and of the county thirty-five thousand. A part 
of Cattaraugus County and a considerable territory in 
Pennsylvania looked to Jamestown as its commercial 
center. Seven mail routes centered there, two of them 
daily lines of stages each way. 

Jamestown was a place of considerable promise and 
the need of a bank was greatly felt owing to the dis- 
tance to banking facilities. This, together with the fact 
that an investment in bank stock was known to be ex- 
ceedingly profitable, created an influence that soon ma- 
terialized in the organization of the Chautauqua County 
Bank. That institution was organized under the safety 
fund system, the safest system in vogue. Judge Elial 
T. Foote and Judge Richard P. Marvin were the most 
conspicuous men in the movement for the organization. 
They were heartily seconded by most of the leading 

46 



men of the county who readily took stock in the insti- 
tution. The capital of one hundred thousand dollars 
•niot subscribed locally was largely taken by Albany 
capitalists. The applications for stock reached nearly 
a million dollars. At a meeting of the directors held at 
Jones & Son's tavern June 24, 1831, Elial T. Foote was 
elected President. The President was to serve without 
salary, his only compensation being a fee for signing 
bills. 

At this meeting a contract was made -with James 
Prendergast for a lot on which to build a bank building 
—the same lot on which the Chautauqua County Trust 
Company is located. That building was located on the 
rear end of the lot and faced on Second Street. At the 
same time five hundred dollars was appropriated for the 
purpose of erecting a building for the bank and con- 
structing a vault. The directors present at the meeting 
were Leverett Barker, Oliver Lee, Thomas B. Camp- 
bell, William Peacock, Daniel Sherman, James Hall, 
Elial T. Foote, Judiah E. Budlong, Abner Hazeltine 
and Richard P. Marvin. It was resolved that there be 
a meeting of the directors on Thursday of each week 
at seven P. M. at the house of Jones & Son until fur- 
ther orders. There is a tradition that there was an 
enjoyable social session after these meetings. 

As illustrating some of the conditions existing at 
that time, the articles of association show that the 
Finance 'Committee of the Board of Directors were to 
meet twice weekly and that no notes were to be dis- 
counted except by that full committee; that no note 
shall be discounted for less than fifty dollars or without 
at least two responsible endorsers or having upon it 
any name which shall be upon any note or bill pro- 
tested and due the bank without adding one additional 
and responsible endorser; that all protested notes that 



47 



belong to the bank for more than one week shall be 
put in the hands of its attorney for collection. 

No individual shall be allowed to overdraw his ac- 
count, but if by mistake such occurrence should hap- 
pen, the individual shall forthwith be notified, and in 
case the account shall not promptly be adjusted, the 
cashier is authorized to commence a suit for the bal- 
ance, and in all cases he shall, if not previously adjusted, 
report the case at the next meeting of the directors. 

The bank was open for the transaction of business 
from ten o'clock until twelve A. M., and from two until 
four P. M. 

It was thought that all renewals of paper were con- 
trary to proper business methods and all notes must be 
paid at maturity. The form of making payments was 
as now by bank checks and drafts. The bank received 
deposits and sold New York, Philadelphia and Albany 
exchange. 

Oliver Lee was elected Vice President and Arad Joy, 
Cashier, soon after the organization of the bank. Mr. 
Joy resigned in April, 1832, when Fitch Shepard, then 
teller, was made acting cashier. May 4, 1832, Aaron 
D. Patchen of Troy was elected Cashier. He was a 
trained banker, a man of great energy and prompt busi- 
ness methods, and materially aided Judge Foote and 
the directors in organizing the business of the institu- 
tion on a sound financial basis. 

At a meeting of the Board of Directors held Sep- 
tember 30, 1834, Robert Newland of Albany was unani- 
mously elected teller of the institution with a salary of 
three hundred dollars per annum. On June 9, 1835, 
Judge Foote having severed his connection with the 
bank, Samuel Barrett was elected President. 

Judge Foote was at that time the leading physician 
of the town ; was the Postmaster of Jamestown and for 

48 



twenty-five years a Judge of the county, and was a 
prominent figure in business and financial circles. He 
did more to preserve the traditions and historical rec- 
ords of Chautauqua County than any other man. Per- 
sonally he was an honest, earnest man, inflexible as 
iron in everything that constituted economy; hard to 
himself, upholding with rigid self-discipline the tradi- 
tions of his early New England home. 

Major Barrett, after coming to Jamestown, had 
been a hotel keeper, tanner and merchant, and before 
his election to the Presidency of the institution had been 
its Vice President. He served as President for thirty- 
seven years and the records of the bank show him to 
have been a sound, level-headed and energetic busi- 
ness man. 

In 1836 Aaron D. Patchen resigned to become 
Cashier of the State Bank at Albany. His brother, 
Thaddeus W. Patchen of Troy, succeeded him as Cash- 
ier of the Chautauqua County Bank. On the resigna- 
tion of Thaddeus W. Patchen in 1840, Robert Newland, 
formerly teller, was appointed cashier and served in 
such capacity until i860 when he was made Vice Presi- 
dent and Selden E. Marvin, Cashier. When General 
Marvin entered the army in 1862, Mr. Newland was 
again made Cashier and served until elected to the 
Presidency in 1872, when David N. Marvin was made 

cashier. 

David N. Marvin's death in 1875 was a distinct loss 
to the institution and greatly regretted by his associates 
in the bank and by the community at large. 

After Mr. Marvin's death, Frank B. Farnham, 
George S. Gifford, Willis O. Benedict, and the present 
incumbent, Brewer D. Phillips, who was elected in July, 
1897, have occupied the position of Cashier. 

After the death of Samuel Barrett in 1872, on Au- 

49 



gust 14th of that year Robert Newland was elected 
President. Mr. Newland served until incapacitated by 
impaired health, resigning May 8, 1890, and died Octo- 
ber 3, 1891. Robert Newland was the son of an Albany 
merchant and commenced his connection with the Chau- 
tauqua County Bank when he was twenty-five years of 
age and maintained a continuous relation with that in- 
stitution for fifty-seven years. The written records of 
the bank show that he was upright, painstaking, indus- 
trious, watchful and possessed of a strong discriminat- 
ing mind. The bank traditions are that he was a good 
man, conscientious, high-minded, dignified and genu- 
ine, considerate and thoughtful of others, modest, re- 
served and little given to extravagance of speech — an 
ideal gentleman. 

In 1890 Daniel Griswold became President as suc- 
cessor of Mr. Newland and served until 1899. Then he 
was succeeded for a few months by Elliot C. Hall, who 
was succeeded in May of the same year by Charles M. 
Dow, the present President of the bank. Mr. Gris- 
wold during his administration was a bulwark of 
strength to the institution. 

Fred A. Bentley was elected Vice President in Jan- 
uary, 1886, and is the incumbent. 

The Chautauqua County Bank as a state institution 
was succeeded by the Chautauqua County National 
Bank October 2, 1865. June 18, 1896, the Chautauqua 
County National Bank was succeeded by the Chautau- 
qua County Trust Company and the business of the 
City National Bank added to it, Willis Tew being elect- 
ed Second Vice President and M. M. Skiff, Secretary. 
On July 1, 1899, the capital was increased and the busi- 
ness of the Jamestown National Bank acquired. In 
January, 1900, Edward F. Dickinson was elected Sec- 
retary. On the death of Mr. Dickinson in 1901, Harry 

5° 



P. Sheldon was elected Secretary. Mr. Dickinson in 
his judgment was wise and discreet. He was kind and 
courteous in his relations with all and was universally 
respected for those traits of character which make a 
good citizen and an upright man. He was a model for 
youth and manhood. The present capital of the bank 
is two hundred fifty thousand dollars with deposits of 
two million three hundred thousand dollars. The pres- 
ent officers are Charles M. Dow, President ; Fred A. 
Bentley, Vice President; Harry P. Sheldon, Secretary; 
Brewer D. Phillips, Cashier. 

The history of the Chautauqua County Bank, un- 
like many, is not monotonous for it is in a great meas- 
ure the history of Chautauqua County. It is the link 
between the past and the present. Its early chronicles 
show how this country was builded and the preserved 
records of its directors' meetings will show also that its 
prosperity was inevitable. One great aim was to build 
up the community in which it was located and in that 
upbuilding the institution has prospered. The spirit 
of progress which animated its original Board of Direc- 
tors has remained with all their successors and each 
succeeding year has found it pushing farther and far- 
ther to the front. 

Of all that men leave behind them after having been 
actively engaged in life, there is nothing that affords 
better tests of their character and motive than their 
private correspondence where a necessary mutual re- 
liance is indulged in. Men throw off all disguise and 
disclose the real motive by which they are governed. 
In the mass of correspondence between the clients of 
the Chautauqua County Bank and its officers, many of 
the men of Chautauqua are shown to have been grand 
and overshadowing characters. 

The position the bank has always occupied in the 

Si 



public esteem and respect of this entire community has 
been pre-eminent and the feeling- of a large share of 
its constituency is of personal attachment. It is spoken 
of as people speak of a high-minded man. Away from 
home it is one of the best known of such institutions. 
Its growth, like the growth of Jamestown, has been 
continuous and solid. Its strength is positive. Its 
name is synonymous with stability. 

Following the enactment of the General Banking 
Law of 1838, wildcat banks were organized through 
Western New York. One was located in Clymer, one 
in Sherman, one in Ellery, and another in Dunkirk. It 
was customary in the organization of these institutions 
that the stockholders should be non-residents, they em- 
ploying some man of prominence in each village who 
had a place of business which was made a redemption 
place for their bills. These bills were all issued in New 
York and sent to these officers to sign. The place of 
business being inaccessible, the bills were redeemed in 
New York at one-half of one per cent, discount which 
prevented their being presented and specie demanded. 
By this process speculators kept the bills at par for 
some time, but these wildcat banks eventually all failed. 
These institutions were not banks of deposit and were 
organized solely for the purpose of circulating their bills. 

The Silver Creek Bank was organized in 1838 with 
a capital of one hundred thousand dollars with Oliver 
Lee as President, he being its principal stockholder. 
Mr. Lee died July 28, 1846, and was succeeded by 
George W. Tew. Oliver Lee was a man of great force 
and an important person in the development of the 
county. He early acquired a large fortune and used 
the power that it gave. Before the organization of the 
Silver Creek Bank, Mr. Lee had been a tanner, mer- 
chant and warehouseman and was the first Vice Presi- 

52 



dent of the Chautauqua County Bank at Jamestown. 
His influence was broadly felt. 

George W. Tew was a practicing - attorney, was twice 
County Clerk, and was elected Cashier of the Silver 
Creek Bank in 1841. He was afterwards elected to the 
Presidency of that institution, which relation was con- 
tinued until his death in 1875, the bank being- discon- 
tinued soon thereafter. Mr. Tew, like Mr. Lee, acquired 
a large property in early life. He was a man of strong 
character but of modest manners ; was known to be a 
prudent manager and a man of stainless character, ad- 
mired by all who knew him in his business relations. 
He was thoroughly alive to all the social and religious 
interests of his town. His relations to moral questions 
and his whole character were such as to entitle him to 
the regard and esteem of all. There was a certain state- 
liness and dignity of person and natural majesty of man- 
ner about him which marked him out from the multi- 
tude. 

In 1848 the Bank of Westfield was established by S. 
H. Hungerford with a capital of one hundred thou- 
sand dollars. Mr. Hungerford had been a successful 
merchant, was an active participant in the public affairs 
of his town and county ; was hospitable and cultured. 
Honesty and ability characterized his business life. 

The Bank of Westfield was succeeded in 1864 by the 
First National Bank of Westfield with F. B. Brewer 
as President and Levi A. Skinner, Cashier. Dr. Brewer 
was a college bred man, was a physician and had been 
a successful lumberman and oil operator — a pioneer in 
the oil business. He held many important political 
offices, the last of which was one term as Member of 
Congress from this district. L. A. Skinner was made 
President of the bank in 1875 and was succeeded by 
E. A. Skinner after the death of L. A. Skinner in 1876. 

53 



Levi A. Skinner was prominently identified with all of 
the business, social and religious life of the town ; was 
a devoted member of the Presbyterian Church, of which 
denomination he had been a minister before his resi- 
dence in Westfield. On the expiration of the charter 
of the First National Bank in 1884 the bank was re- 
organized as the National Bank of Westfield. The 
present officers are E. A. Skinner, President ; Frank W. 
Crandall, Cashier. The capital is one hundred thou- 
sand dollars with deposits of four hundred thousand 
dollars. 

With the beginning of the latter half of the century 
and the ushering in of the railroad era, there seemed 
to be a demand for another bank in Jamestown. The 
Jamestown Bank was organized in 1853 with Alonzo 
Kent, President and J. E. Mayhew, Cashier. The direc- 
tors were Alonzo Kent, Orsell Cook, Reuben E. Fen- 
ton, Galusha A. Grow and Sardius Steward. The First 
National Bank, the successor of the Jamestown Bank, 
was incorporated April 5, 1864, with the same officers 
and directors. On the resignation of Mr. Kent from the 
Presidency in July, 1881, Governor Fenton was elected 
President and served until his death, August 25, 1885. 
Mr. Kent was re-elected President January 4, 1886, and 
served until his death, May 25, 1888, when Frank E. 
Gifford was elected his successor. Prior to the organi- 
zation of the Jamestown Bank, Mr. Kent had been a 
successful merchant. He was a man of energy, strict 
attention to business, of rare intelligence, with a mind 
of acuteness and force, and withal an excellent director 
of affairs and a good banker. Governor Fenton's ca- 
reer is well written in history. It would be difficult to 
recite the work that he has done. As a statesman and 
financier he shed great lustre on his home city. After 
retiring from active public life, he was naturally called 

54 



upon to take charge of the bank with which he had 
been so long identified. As he was seen about his 
office at the First National Bank, he was of princely 
mien and manner, scrupulously neat in attire, cordial 
and genial in intercourse, the same as when occupying 
exalted public position. His later business life illus- 
trated in the most remarkable manner that the post 
of honor is a private station. Upon the death of J. 
Edward Mayhew in 1885, Edward Morgan was elected 
Cashier. Many of Jamestown's industries have been 
greatly aided by the fostering care of the First National 
Bank and the bank has been eminently successful from 
its inception. The present officers are Frank Edward 
Gifford, President ; William Broadhead, Vice President ; 
Edward Morgan, Cashier. Their capital is one hun- 
dred fifty-three thousand three hundred dollars, with 
deposits of one million dollars. 

The Lake Shore Bank of Dunkirk was organized 
in 1855 by Truman R. Coleman and Langley Fullagar 
with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, Mr. 
Coleman being President and Mr. Fullagar Cashier. 
On the death of Mr. Coleman in 1880, William T. Cole- 
man, his son, became President and A. J. Lunt Cashier, 
Mr. Fullagar having previously resigned. Truman R. 
Coleman was one of the foremost men of his time in 
the county ; pure in thought and act and devoted to the 
interests of his home city. In 1883 the institution be- 
came the Lake Shore National Bank. After the death 
of William T. Coleman in 1891, M. L. Hinman was 
made President, and resigning in 1896 was succeeded 
by A. H. Marsh. William T. Coleman was enterprising 
and reliable, warm in his affections, and an intuitive 
reader of men and their motives. His death was the 
cause of genuine and unaffected regret. The present 
officers are A. H. Marsh, President ; George P. Sanders, 
55 



Vice President ; A. J. Lunt, Cashier. Its capital is one 
hundred five thousand dollars, with deposits of one 
million dollars. 

The Fredonia Bank was organized in 1856 with a 
capital of one hundred thousand dollars, Rosell Greene 
being President, Orson Stiles, Vice President, and 
Stephen M. Clement, Cashier. The first directors were 
Rosell Greene, George W. Tew, Joel R. Parker, Ed- 
mund Day, Calvin Hutchinson, Philander Sprague, 
Chauncey Abbey, Orson Stiles, Stephen M. Clement, 
Henry C. Frisbee, Abner Clark and Charles Bur- 
nt t. At the death of Rosell Greene in 1859, 
Orson Stiles was elected President. Mr. Greene 
came to Fredonia to learn the tanner's trade in Gen- 
eral Leverett Barker's tannery. He was a son-in-law of 
General Barker and was for some years the manager 
of his business and was his successor in the tanning 
business. 

In [865 the Fredonia National Bank was organized 
with a eapital of fifty thousand dollars with Orson Stiles 
President, Chauncey Abbey, Vice President, and Steph- 
en M. Clement, Cashier. Mr. Stiles was a graduate of 
Union College; was an attorney-at-law and at one time 
County Clerk of Chautauqua County. His genial, cor- 
dial nature drew to him many warm friends. He was 
a man ever honored and respected. 

In 1867 Mr. Clement resigned as Cashier to accept 
the position of Cashier in the Marine Bank of Buffalo 
and was elected President of the Fredonia National 
Bank and H. C. Clark was made Vice President, the 
latter devoting his time to the interests of the institu- 
tion. At this time H. D. Crane was elected Cashier and 
continued as such until 1872 when he was succeeded by 
Reuben l\ Clement. In 1881, S. M. Clement having 
disposed of his interests in the Fredonia National Bank, 

56 



Chauncey Abbey was made President and Aaron O. 
Putnam Vice President. Mr. Clement was formerly a 
merchant in Fredonia ; had been a short time Cashier 
of H. J. Miner's Bank before taking the cashiership 
of the Fredonia Bank. The great success of the Ma- 
rine Bank of Buffalo, of which he was the executive 
officer, is a splendid monument to his business ability 
and character. 

In 1881 the capital was increased to one hundred 
thousand dollars. In 1884, R. P. Clement having re- 
signed as Cashier, he was succeeded by Frederick R. 
Green. At the death of Chauncey Abbey in 1894, Aaron 
O. Putnam was made Vice President and so continued 
until his death in February, 1896. He was succeeded 
by Oscar W. Johnson as Vice President. Mr. Abbey, 
before moving to Fredonia, had been the most success- 
ful farmer and cattle dealer of Northern Chautauqua. 
He had been of the organizers and directors of the 
Fredonia Bank and was an energetic and self-reliant 
man. His personal loyalty to his friends and business 
associates was one of the greatest attributes of his 
character. 

On the death of Mr. Putnam, Ralph H. Hall was 
elected President to succeed him. In 1898 Mr. Johnson 
died and was succeeded as Vice President by Henry 
W. Thompson who remained in that office until January, 
1902, and was succeeded by Dr. M. M. Fenner. 

The present officers are R. H. Hall, President; M. 
M. Fenner, Vice President; F. R. Green, Cashier. At 
the present time they have a capital of one hundred 
thousand dollars, with deposits of eight hundred thou- 
sand dollars. 

The Second National Bank of Jamestown was or- 
ganized in 1865 with a capital of one hundred thousand 
dollars, Thomas D. Hammond being President, Wil- 

57 



Ham H. Tew, Vice President, and George W. Tew, Jr., 
Cashier. In 1869, upon the resignation of Thomas D. 
Hammond, William H. Tew was elected President 
with George W. Tew, Vice President, and Willis 
Tew, Cashier. In 1872, Willis Tew resigned his posi- 
tion as Cashier, George W. Tew, Jr., being elected 
to succeed him, and Judson W. Breed was elected Vice 
President. In 1874 H. H. Gifford was elected Vice 
President to succeed Judson W. Breed, and Edgar W. 
Stephens, Cashier in place of George W. Tew, Jr., who 
had resigned. On March 31, 1875, the name of the 
bank was changed to the City National Bank. 

Upon the resignation of William H. Tew in 1879, 
Martin L. Fenton was elected President. William H. 
Tew was for many years a successful merchant of 
Jamestown. He was a man of power and during his 
entire career made his influence felt in educational mat- 
ters and in everything that pertained to the best in- 
terests of his town. His positive convictions and his 
generosity to the needy were well known as well as his 
strong temperance principles and his thorough sense of 
justice. His intellectual qualities and judgment were 
of a high order and he left a strong impress on the 
affairs of his town. 

In 1880 George W. Tew was elected President to 
succeed M. L. Fenton, and Willis Tew was chosen Vice 
President. 

E. W. Stephens having resigned the cashiership, 
Charles H. Tew was elected in his stead. In 1888 Her- 
bert W. Tew was elected Cashier to take the place of 
Charles H. Tew who had resigned. In 1893 Willis Tew 
was elected President to succeed George W. Tew, and 
M. L. Fenton was chosen Vice President. In 1894 Her- 
bert W. Tew having resigned the cashiership, M. M. 
Skiff was elected in his place. 

58 



On June 16, 1896, the City National Bank was ab- 
sorbed by the Chautauqua County Trust Company. 

The Merchants National Bank of Dunkirk was or- 
ganized in 1882 with a capital of one hundred thou- 
sand dollars with Langley Fullagar as President and 
John H. Lascelles, Cashier. Mr. Fullagar served as 
President until required to resign on account of im- 
paired health and was succeeded by S. M. Clement, the 
present President of the Marine National Bank of Buf- 
falo. Mr. Fullagar was a man of high character and 
fine business qualifications ; was a pure and lovable 
man ; his work was for the betterment of humanity ; he 
was in touch with those principles of morality and re- 
ligion which form the crown of civilization. He had a 
talent for friendship; was a lover of right, truth and 
justice and hated shams. 

The Jamestown National Bank was organized in 
1888 with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars with 
Charles M. Dow, President; Charles H. Gifford, Vice 
President, and M. M. Skiff, Cashier, Mr. Skiff resigning 
the same year and Edward F. Dickinson being elected 
Cashier in his place with Samuel J. Giles, Assistant 
Cashier. All the officers served up to the time of the 
consolidation with the Chautauqua County Trust Com- 
pany July 1, 1899, with the exception of Charles H. Gif- 
ford who resigned to become President of the Farmers 
& Mechanics Bank, S. B. Broadhead and S. W. Thomp- 
son being elected Vice Presidents in 1892. The insti- 
tution was successful from its inception and at the time 
of its going out of business had a capital of one hun- 
dred thousand dollars and surplus of one hundred thou- 
sand dollars, with deposits of seven hundred fifty thou- 
sand dollars. 

The State Bank of Sherman was organized in 1890 
with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars with E. 

59 



Sperry, President, C. H. Corbett, Vice President, and 
H. F. Young, Cashier. In 1894 A. J. Dean succeeded 
Mr. Sperry to the Presidency and held the position until 
January, 1900, when he resigned and J. L. Thayer was 
elected in his place. The present officers are J. L. 
Thayer, President ; C. H. Corbett, Vice President ; 
Charles S. Jones, Cashier. They have a capital of 
twenty-five thousand dollars, with deposits of one hun- 
dred thirty-five thousand dollars. 

The Farmers & Mechanics Bank was organized in 
1891 with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars 
with E. B. Crissey, President, Fred T. Powell, Vice 
President, and George S. Gifford, Cashier. In 1894 
W. R. Botsford was elected Cashier to succeed George 
S. Gifford. In 1897 Newton Crissey was elected 
President, E. B. Crissey, Vice President, and H. 
J. Crissey, Cashier. On the resignation of H. 
J. Crissey in 1898, George L. Hamilton was 
elected Cashier, and he was succeeded in 1900 
by O. N. Rushworth. The present officers are Newton 
Crissey, President ; E. B. Crissey, Vice President ; O. 
N. Rushworth, Cashier. They have a capital of fifty 
thousand dollars with deposits of five hundred twenty- 
five thousand dollars. 

The State Bank of Mayville was organized in 1891 
as successor to Skinner, Minton & Company, with a 
capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, C. C. Minton 
being President, J. F. Hunt, Vice President, and C. R. 
Cipperly, Cashier. The present officers are M. W. 
Scofield, President ; J. F. Hunt, Vice President ; C. R. 
Cipperly, Cashier. They have a capital of twenty-five 
thousand dollars with deposits of one hundred forty 
thousand dollars. 

The State Bank of Brocton was organized Feb- 
ruary 18, 1892, by Brewer D. Phillips and others of 

60 



Brocton with a capital of thirty thousand dollars, Ralph 
A. Hall being President, Herman J. Dean, Vice Presi- 
dent, and Brewer D. Phillips, Cashier. Mr. Phillips re- 
signed the cashiership in June, 1896, to take the cash- 
iership of the Chautauqua County Trust Company. The 
present officers are Ralph A. Hall, President ; Jonas 
Martin, Vice President ; L. D. Sullivan, Cashier. They 
have a capital of thirty thousand dollars, with deposits 
of two hundred fifty thousand dollars. 

The Union Trust Company of Jamestown was char- 
tered January 12, 1894, with one hundred thousand 
dollars capital, E. B. Crissey being the first President 
with Frank Merz, Cashier. E. B. Crissey resigned 
June 19, 1896, and James S. Patterson succeeded him. 
Mr. Patterson died April 8, 1899, and was succeeded 
by Frank Merz as President. Mr. Merz being succeed- 
ed by Harry L. Briggs as Cashier. Mr. Patterson 
was an extensive and successful oil operator and was 
a large holder of manufacturing interests. He was a 
man of great energy and interested in philanthropic 
and religious movements ; was a man of high sense of 
honor, strict integrity, and of a kind and genial nature. 
The present officers are Frank Merz, President ; Samuel 
Briggs, Vice President ; Harry L. Briggs, Cashier. 
They have a capital of one hundred thousand dollars 
with deposits of one million one hundred thousand 
dollars. 

The State Bank of Silver Creek was organized in 
1899 with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars with 
R. J. Quale, President, F. R. Green, Vice President, 
and Theodore Stewart, Cashier. In 1901 F. R. 
Green resigned the Vice Presidency and George 
H. Shofner was elected to succeed him. The present 
officers are R. J. Quale, President ; George H. Shofner, 
Vice President ; Theodore Stewart, Cashier. They have 
61 



a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars with deposits 
of one hundred twenty thousand dollars. 

The First National Bank of Falconer, New York, 
was organized in 1900 with a capital of twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars with E. B. Crissey, President, J. P. Clark, 
Vice President, and E. H. Sample Cashier. The offi- 
cers are the same now as at the time of organization. 
They have deposits of sixty thousand dollars. 

It is a noteworthy fact that no incorporated bank of 
deposit has ever failed in Chautauqua County. 

The men of Chautauqua who have left their mark 
upon our institutions knew the world and had the cour- 
age and talent that fitted them to fight successfully the 
great battle of life. The names of these persons are too 
numerous to mention here in full and to select some 
might appear invidious. 

MANUFACTURING. 

In all the early years the inhabitants of this county 
had few resources that would command money or store 
trade. After the close of the War of 1812 some cort- 
cerns commenced the manufacture of pot and pearl 
ashes and the manufacture of black salts which 
afforded the settlers the first means to command a 
little money. Pearl ashes were used in cooking as sale- 
ratus and baking powder are now. The most of the 
ashes were shipped in heavy barrels to New York for 
export. The annual sale of pot and pearl ashes by one 
dealer ran from twenty to forty thousand dollars and 
the forests rapidly passed into the ash kettles, so it not 
only brought money into the county but it promoted the 
clearing of land. 

The lands were being cleared and sowed to grain 
but the crops could neither be consumed at home nor 
transported to market elsewhere. Out of this condi- 

62 



Hon grew the policy of manufacturing the products at 
home and simplifying the question of transportation. 
Almost every section had its distillery, the liquor being 
much more easily transported than the grain. In all di- 
rections the best economy before the days of good 
roads advised every possible kind of local manufactur- 
ing and so came into existence in every community not 
only the distillery and the grist mill but fulling mills, 
hat factories, tanneries and wagon shops. 

In 1816 Daniel Hazeltine commenced cloth dressing 
in Jamestown. In 1823 Robert Falconer became a part- 
ner and weaving was added. In '30 they manufactured 
cloth extensively, producing twenty thousand yards an- 
nually. Other factories were developed and were finally 
consolidated. Up to 1873 no attempt had been made 
to manufacture worsted dress goods west of the Hud- 
son. That year William Hall and William Broadhead 
commenced manufacturing worsted goods in James- 
town and it has proved one of the largest industries of 
the place. Messrs. Hall and Broadhead soon dissolved 
partnership and each soon conducted independent man- 
ufacturing plants. At the time of the organization of 
the Jamestown Alpaca Mills, Mr. Hall was seventy- 
nine years of age. He had acquired a large fortune in 
lumbering and furnished the capital for the business and 
gave his personal attention to the construction of the 
plant. It was characteristic of the man that the work 
he did was done substantially. Other worsted goods 
plants developed and today thirty-two hundred people 
are employed in producing six million yards of cloth 
annually. Mr. Broadhead, who inaugurated that move- 
ment, did much for Jamestown. 

In all of his enterprises, he has shown a judgment 
that reached results with a celerity and calmness that 
seemed to be the issue of intuition rather than study. 
63 



In 1816, contemporaneous with the starting of Haz- 
eltine's cloth business, Royal Keyes began the first 
manufacture of cabinet ware in Jamestown and in the 
county and soon after formed a partnership with Wil- 
liam and John C. Breed. The Breeds were for years 
the largest furniture manufacturers in the county. 
Aside from supplying the local demand, they marketed 
their product at the river towns along the Allegheny 
and Ohio. In 1837 they built a factory which contained 
the first machinery for cabinet work run by water. In 
the 50's a large amount of their product was delivered 
by teams to dealers within a hundred miles or so. The 
Civil War brought a stronger demand for furniture and 
factories multiplied until today we have thirty furniture 
manufacturing concerns in Jamestown employing from 
thirty-five hundred to four thousand hands, turning 
out annually goods to the value of three million two 
hundred seventy-five thousand dollars, Jamestown being 
the third furniture manufacturing town in the United 
States. The great movement in the direction of man- 
ufacturing did not take place until about 1870 when the 
resources were turned in that direction. Jamestown 
grew to be a manufacturing city for the reason that 
the capital required for industries was to be found there 
where it had been won mainly through lumbering. 

In 1843 Henry Baker installed the first turbine 
water wheel in the county but centervent perpendicular 
shaft wheels were generally used. 

The first steam engine used in manufacturing in 
Jamestown was installed in Daniel William's foundry 
in 1835. A part of that engine is still in occasional use 
in Josephus H. Clark's foundry. 

Among the newer lines of goods manufactured, me- 
tallic furniture takes a place as a distinct business. In 
1888 the Fenton Metallic Manufacturing Company was 

64 



organized with R. E. Fenton as President and J. W. 
Hine as Superintendent. After the death of Mr. Fen- 
ton, A. C. Wade became President. In 1890 a con- 
solidation was made with numerous other companies 
and a new corporation, the Art Metal Construction 
Company, was formed which is the largest plant of its 
kind in the world and is a matter of local pride. It is 
believed that this with some others is the beginning 
of what will eventually make Jamestown the center of 
one of those American industrial successes that are a 
wonder to the world. The company now employs up- 
wards of five hundred men. 

Another of Jamestown's industries is unique inas- 
much as it pioneered the manufacture of Emulsion 
Ready Prepared Photographic paper. It is not only 
the pioneer of that industry of the United States but 
of the world and was a distinct and radical step for- 
ward in photographic science. The success of this in- 
stitution reflects great credit on the skill and persist- 
ence of the men who led the movement both technically 
and as to its business development. Porter Sheldon 
was the first President of the company, Charles S. 
Abbott, Secretary and Treasurer, with R. C. Sheldon 
Manager of the Technical Departments. On the retire- 
ment of Porter Sheldon from the Presidency in 1899, 
Charles S. Abbott became President and R. C. Sheldon 
Vice President and Treasurer. The work of most men 
reveals its process. The work of these men seemed 
effortless. Some lift their burdens with swelling mus- 
cles. These men accomplish a result without the trace 
of toil that seems to come to lesser men. This enter- 
prise has done much to broaden the sphere of James- 
town's activities. The output of this institution reaches 
well above the million figure annually. 

6s 



The first factory for the manufacture of cheese or 
butter was built and operated by Asa Burnham in 1861. 
The movement spread into all the towns of the county 
with the result that in 1900 forty-two cheese factories 
manufactured four million sixty-four thousand seven 
hundred sixty pounds of cheese and the thirty-five 
creameries manufactured two million «ine hundred thir- 
ty-seven thousand and sixty-two pounds of butter, al- 
most entirely marketed in New York. 

Silver Creek's first movement toward becoming a 
mill machinery manufacturing town was in 1856 when 
Simeon Howes commenced the business of manufac- 
turing smut and separating machines. Other factories 
for manufacturing grist mill machinery developed until 
there are four hundred men employed in the works 
using a capital of four hundred thousand dollars with an 
annual output of eight hundred thousand dollars. The 
machinery goes to every country where grain is used 
and Silver Creek builds over three-fourths of the grain 
cleaners of the world. 

When the firm of Fay, Ryckman & Haywood es- 
tablished their wine-house at Brocton in 1859, there 
were not over forty acres of bearing grapes in the 
entire grape belt of this county. The business of man- 
ufacturing wine has steadily progressed and is today 
a considerable industry, the county manufacturing one 
million six hundred thousand gallons and two hundred 
fifty thousand gallons unfermented juice. 

The locomotive works were established at Dunkirk 
at the opening of the Erie Railroad as a repair shop, 
and locomotives were rebuilt at rare times — not more 
than six or eight in any one year until the property fell 
into the hands of Horatio G. Brooks when it was incor- 
porated under the name of the Brooks Locomotive 
Works with H. G. Brooks as President and M. L. Hin- 

66 



man as Secretary and Treasurer. After the death of 
Mr. Brooks in 1887, Mr. Hinman was elected President 
and other changes were made up to the time of the ab- 
sorption of the works by the American Locomotive 
Company in 1901. It has been Dunkirk's most stable 
and valuable manufacturing establishment from the 
time of its organization. Their business has been con- 
stantly progressing and is today the greatest manufac- 
turing establishment in the county. Their locomotives 
are being operated in every country in the world and 
have an excellent international reputation. The output 
of locomotives is at the rate of thirty-five monthly, em- 
ploying twenty-four hundred men with a pay roll of 
one million five hundred thousand dollars annually. To 
those to whom large things seem appalling because they 
are unfamiliar, there is something almost weird in Mr. 
Brooks's easy handling of this enterprise. 

The immigration of Scandinavians to Southern 
Chautauqua practically began about i860 and since that 
this industrious and upright people have become an im- 
portant part of our population and have taken a strong 
place in the industrial development of our county. 

The English immigration practically began in 1873 
with the enlarging of our textile industries, has increased 
in proportion with them and has furnished much of the 
sinew that is to make us great. 

The manufactures of the county started almost with- 
out exception from small beginnings and have been ex- 
tended as the increase of trade demanded and warrant- 
ed. The owners and managers are therefore as a rule 
thoroughly versed in their business, know how to carry 
it on with the least expense, and are free from the dis- 
advantages of men who start with large capital and re- 
sources which they have not the experience to properly 
handle. 
67 



According to the census of 1900, there were one 
hundred seventy-eight manufacturing establishments in 
Jamestown employing a capital of eight million five 
hundred fifty-two thousand four hundred seventy dol- 
lars with four thousand six hundred seventy-five wage 
earners receiving one million eight hundred thou- 
sand one hundred ninety-two dollars, the value of pro • 
ducts being eight million two hundred eighteen thou- 
sand nine hundred twenty-two dollars. Dunkirk had 
eighty-six manufacturing establishments with a capital 
invested of four million two hundred twenty-six thou- 
sand four hundred ninety-five dollars with two thou- 
sand six hundred fifteen wage earners, producing five 
million three hundred ninety-three thousand and fifty- 
three dollars. 

Jamestown is noted for the diversity of its products 
and this is one reason for its prosperity. It is said that 
no manufacturing city in America has so many varying 
products in proportion to the population and capital 
invested. 

As our ancestors furnished the materials that helped 
to build the homes in the cities and towns of a vast 
territory, through the skill, industry and enterprise of 
our citizens, our manufacturers are today contributing 
materially to the comfort and beautifying of the homes 
and work places and clothing the people of this great 
country, and now our articles of export, natural and 
manufactured, are reaching out to the broader field of 
foreign commerce. 

Mechanical engineers becoming thoroughly aroused 
to the possibilities of the practical employment of elec- 
tricity took hold with astonishing energy and the de- 
development of electricity through the advancing im- 
provements in machinery will continue undoubtedly to 
be a great characteristic of American industry. The 

68 



transmission of electric power has led to a centraliza- 
tion of steam power in our cities. The small steam en- 
gines which were scattered about in the numerous 
workshops have gradually diminished in numbers and 
their places have been taken by electric motors supplied 
with currents from a central station increasing the pro- 
ductive power of steam an appreciable extent. The 
centralization of power in the physical world seems to 
be a counterpart of that taking part in the commercial 
world. 

FISHERIES. 

In 1852 Captain Nash of Mackinac began fishing 
off Dunkirk with gill nets. His first catch was a large 
one of white fish. It was mentioned in Dunkirk, Buf- 
falo and Cleveland papers of that day as the first catch 
of white fish on Lake Erie. As soon as it became 
known that white fish had been taken in Lake Erie, 
people began fishing for them in those waters. Pre- 
vious to finding white fish, it had been the custom all 
along the lake for persons who could afford it to send 
to Mackinac or Detroit every fall for a barrel, half 
barrel or kit of sugar cured white fish for winter use. 

No other body of fresh water on the globe produces 
so large a quantity of fresh fish as Lake Erie. Tons 
of sturgeon's roe are spiced and pickled at Irving an- 
nually and the trade in isinglass made from the air 
bladders of that fish is an important one. A sturgeon's 
roe will weigh from twenty to sixty pounds. The cav- 
iare is sent to Germany and is exported from that coun- 
try back to this in large quantities. Irving gets ninety 
cents a pound for her caviare. It was not until 1865 
that the sturgeon was looked upon with favor for food. 
Now smoked sturgeon is found in the markets of all 
69 



large cities and towns while fresh sturgeon is one of 
the highest priced of fresh water fish. 

The Lake Erie fisheries in Chautauqua County em- 
ploy one hundred twenty persons with a total invest- 
ment of fifty-eight thousand six hundred thirty-six dol- 
lars. They produced in 1901 two million four hundred 
seventy-five thousand nine hundred pounds of fish val- 
ued at forty-eight thousand three hundred twenty-one 
dollars. The value of the caviare produced on Lake 
Erie was twenty-one thousand one hundred twenty-two 
dollars. 

In the fisheries of Chautauqua Lake, bullheads are 
the leading fish as regards quantity taken, but the mus- 
calonge ranks first in value and a considerable trade 
supplying local markets has been developed by Chau- 
tauqua Lake fishermen. 

Owing to the fact that the lake is annually resorted 
to by a large number of anglers, it is necessary in order 
to attract them that the supply of fish be maintained. 

TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE. 

Telegraphs, telephones and the mail, like the nerv- 
ous system, perform functions indispensable to a high 
development. They tend to produce in every part of 
society a consciousness of what is going on in every 
other part. Industrial capability is helpless without the 
knowledge of how to apply it. The facts upon which 
this knowledge must be based are communicated by 
correspondence, by telegraphic reports of prices, of 
movement of commodities, of amount of production, 
and of other important commercial facts. These means 
of communication tend to produce something like unity 
and self consciousness in industrial society. They en- 
large markets through the power they give of watching 
distant transactions and of buying or selling at a dis- 

70 



tance. They thus make the whole body of industry sen- 
sitive to the influence of changes in any part of it, and 
favor equality in prices and wages, and the prompt re- 
dressing of local excess or deficiency. 

Thought carriage, like the forms of transportation, 
is in the course of a surprising development. 

The movement for a postal telegraph and telephone 
service is probably the strongest of the movements hav- 
ing in view the state ownership of important industries. 
Government lownership of these would certainlv be 
much less objectionable than government ownership of 
railroads. Most if not all foreign countries own their 
telegraph lines, and there is reason for thinking that 
the service abroad is cheaper and more efficient than it 
is in the United States. 

The first of the many applications of electricity to 
human need was made in 1844 'when the telegraph 
which had been experimented with for some time be- 
came a certainty. The first telegraph line in the county 
was built in 1847 ar >d extended from Buffalo to Cleve- 
land. The only telegraph office for some time was at 
Fredonia. 

The "Warren Mail" of March 13, 1849, says: "The 
telegraph line from Fredonia to Pittsburg is at length 
completed to this place and we are now in conversa- 
tional proximity with all parts of the Union. The first 
flash came through last week. Time and space are an- 
nihilated. The far-famed magnetic telegraph, the won- 
der of the age, the admiration of millions, the triumph 
of genius, is now in its unobtrusiveness scattering its 
advantages far and wide. What a theme for thought ! 
The swift-winged lightnings are snatched from their 
aerial home, denuded of their terrors, harnessed in wire, 
and made subservient to the use of the people of War- 

71 



ren. Who shall say where invention will stop or when 
wonders will end?" 

The Chautauqua County offices were in Fredonia, 
Sinclairville and Jamestown. On the organization of 
the company the stock sold at one hundred ten dollars 
per mile. In March, 1851, the line was extended from 
Fredonia to Dunkirk. In 1852 there was not enough 
business to maintain the expenses and the people were 
left without any means of communication by telegraph. 
However, the operators at Jamestown and other vil- 
lages took the matter in hand and resumed the busi- 
ness. In the autumn of '53, not having proved a pay- 
ing investment for the operators, it was discontinued 
and the line taken down and the poles, used for fences 
and firewood for the farmers along the route. 

The first telegraph operator in the county was 
Emery Cobb. He subsequently became the manager 
of the Western ; Union office in Chicago and is now a 
banker in Kankakee, Illinois. 

The expiration of the Morse patent was followed by 
the erection of a network of wires and independent 
companies all over the county. These fell to pieces or 
took part in a small measure in the consolidation in 
1856 which resulted in the Western Union Telegraph 
Company. 

Today we communicate with Europe or with our 
possessions in Asia by cable in a twinkling and talk 
with friends a thousand miles away. Our communica- 
tion by telegraph is with twenty thousand offices scat- 
tered over the United States, and one telephone com- 
pany has a million and a half of instruments. The tele- 
graph and the telephone are distance annihilators and 
enter into the life of almost every industry. 

Soon after the telephone became a thing of practical 
utility, in September, 1880, Robert N. Marvin organized 

7* 



a company and put in service a telephone exchange in 
Jamestown and was its President until 1882 when the 
company was absorbed by the Bell interests. From 
that time we have been enabled to whisper to New 
York and Boston and across the prairies of the West. 
Men in Jamestown have attended directors' meetings 
in New York, answering roll call and passing on ques- 
tions of importance. Goods are bought and sold in 
immense quantities without any written record of the 
transaction, for business honor is found to be essential 
and without confidence between buyer and seller no 
transactions are possible. Thus electricity may be said 
to work for morality. 

Within the last two years a movement started after 
the expiration of the Bell patents has developed a series 
of independent companies and telephone lines in Chau- 
tauqua County and throughout the country. It bids 
fair to furnish a network of wires even greater than 
that which followed the expiration of the Morse tele- 
graph patents. The development in equipment and re- 
duced expense of operation has had the effect of reduc- 
ing telephone rates to such an extent that telephones 
are gradually becoming a part of the equipment not 
only of the homes of the cities and villages but also of 
the rural homes of the county. 

Ten years ago wireless telegraphy was regarded as 
an impracticable toy. Today every ship in the channel 
has it installed. A man in Chautauqua County can 
communicate in a few moments with his friends far out 
at sea and a message has just been flashed across the 
Atlantic. It is apparent that this method of conveying 
thought is of practical utility. 

Commercial electric lighting was first introduced 
into Jamestown by T. H. Smith of the Jamestown Cot- 
ton Mill in 1884. This branch of Mr. Smith's business 



73 



was absorbed by the Jamestown Electric Light & Power 
Company in 1888. 

The Jamestown Electric Light & Power Company 
was organized soon after electric lighting was proved 
a success and incorporated in 1887. 

From the beginning of the century, natural gas has 
been used in the north part of the county to some ex- 
tent for commercial and domestic lighting. The first 
illuminating gas used in Jamestown was supplied by a 
corporation of Jamestown capitalists who commenced 
operations about 1859. The Pennsylvania Gas Com- 
pany commenced supplying natural gas for Jamestown 
for fuel purposes in 1885. 

The Dunkirk Gas Company was established by John 
McDougall and Andrew J. Avery in 1887. 

The water supply of the cities and villages of the 
county is in the hands of municipalities, Jamestown de- 
ciding to purchase the plant of the Jamestown Water 
Company in 1902. 

The first enterprise of a public spirited character 
where people are called upon to contribute for the pub- 
lic good was the drilling of a well for salt water near 
Portland Harbor in 1820. The well proved an ex- 
pensive experiment. 

Turner says in 1849: "Scarcely had we done won- 
dering out some new achievement, calculating its re- 
sults, before another is projected and consummated 
to divert the attention." 

The first fifty years of the historv of the county, 
upon the comparison with the statistics of other por- 
tions of the United States, show that nowhere had 
there been so much growth in half a century in popula- 
tion, resources and improvement as in Western New 
York. 

74 



Cattle driving- was a great business of the county 
during the first half of the century. There was no mar- 
ket nearer than the eastern counties of New York and 
Pennsylvania and the only way of getting cattle there 
was by the country roads. They were collected annual- 
ly and driven in droves of one hundred or more. Two 
men and a boy with as many horses usually managed a 
drove and the trip to market often took from two to 
three months. Sheep, hogs and horses were driven to 
market in the same way. The business was started by 
William Peacock. 

Cattle were driven to Boston and to the New Eng- 
land manufacturing cities. The earlv drovers walked 
behind many a drove from the Allegheny Mountains 
to Philadelphia, to the east of the Hudson and to Can- 
ada. As early as 1840 pork was shipped salted in bar- 
rels to a considerable extent. 

It was no uncommon thing for one who went on 
business to New York, if he were a prudent and cau- 
tious man, to make his will and bid his friends a formal 
good-bye. Away from home a man depended for all 
information upon his correspondents and upon his cor- 
respondents alone. He therefore wrote and received 
in return letters in which were assurances of friendship 
and esteem, thanks for small favors conferred, and 
which were filled with courtly expressions unfamiliar 
in this day of modern communication. 

Letters were written with a quill pen, and instead of 
a blotting paper, the home-made ink was dried by 
sprinkling sand over it. Steel pens came into general 
use about 1840. The most decided advance in the fac- 
ility of correspondence came with the typewriter in 
1880, the laborious correspondence of a day being ac- 
complished by modern methods in an hour. 

75 



During the century the legal status of women has 
been radically changed. At its beginning, any money 
that a married woman could earn or inherit became the 
property of her husband and could be taken to pay 
his debts. A married woman could neither make a 
will nor enter into a contract without her husband's 
consent. The process which has effected these changes 
has been slow and gradual. A rehearsal of the laws 
at the opening of the century conveys but slight infor- 
mation concerning the limitations imposed upon wo- 
men, for the unwritten laws of public opinion were often 
quite as binding. The opinion was widespread and em- 
phatic that no man of pride and resources would permit 
his women folk to labor for money. 

The economic development of the country was the 
influence which brought better industrial conditions to 
women. The establishment of factories gradually re- 
moved the manufacture of cloth and clothing from the 
home. The purchase of these necessities demanded a 
greater cash income for the family. Meanwhile the 
prejudice against the education of women was being 
slowly eradicated and better opportunities were offered 
for their intellectual development. With higher quali- 
fications there came the demand for better paid employ- 
ments and openings for better occupations followed. 
The change of opinion has been slow but decided. 
Nine-tenths of the teachers today in Chautauqua Coun- 
ty are women and there are few industries in which wo- 
men are not employed. 

There is no evidence of there ever having been any 
trade in African slaves within our borders although at 
the time of the passage of the emancipation law of 1817 
there were still eight in bondage. There is, however, 
a tradition which I find very often creeps into historical 
statements as fact, that a slave woman was traded by 

76 



her owner to the Holland Land Company for land in 
the Town of Busti. 

Suffrage was carefully limited. Only freeholders 
worth one hundred pounds could vote for Governor or 
Senators, and freeholders worth twenty pounds for As- 
semblymen. In 1826 the property qualifications were 
removed from suffrage. 

A change in the law of debtor and creditor took 
place in the passage of the act to abolish imprisonment 
for debt in April, 1831, which affected more sensibly all 
the business relations of society than any law of the 
Legislature which had been passed for many years. 
The opponents of the measure were for some time vio- 
lent in their denunciations and clamors for its repeal 
but the public voice subsided into acquiescence with its 
provisions as at once humane and just. 

No crime known to law brought so many to the jails 
and prisons as the crime of debt, and the class most like- 
ly to get into debt were the most defenseless and de- 
spondent. 

In Mayville boarding houses were built for board- 
ing debtors within the jail limits. The debtors were not 
confined in the jail but lived in boarding houses and 
more than one of these houses in Mayville was main- 
tained by this class of prisoners. 

The law to extend the exemption of household 
furniture, working tools and teams from sale by execu- 
tion was passed in 1842 and was received with decided 
disapprobation by a large portion of the people and 
effected material change in this county where so much 
business was done upon credit, but in time the affairs 
of the debtor and creditor were adjusted without dis- 
satisfaction to either. Without other law public senti- 
ment today rightly exempts not only all of the necessi- 
ties but the comforts of life. 

77 



The first bankruptcy law enacted after the organiza- 
tion of the county was in 1841. The panic of 1837 
strewed the country with commercial wrecks and there 
was a strong sentiment which operated slowly but at 
length effectively in favor of legislation for the relief of 
debtors. The relief was limited to traders and intro- 
duced the principle of voluntary bankruptcy. The stat- 
ute was repealed by the same Congress that passed it. 
Thereafter for a quarter of a century, unfortunate 
debtors were left to such relief as the insolvency laws of 
the state could afford them ; and these came to be the 
agencies of fraud. It required another financial crisis 
to stimulate Congress to action. This occurred in 1866 
and a year later there was enacted the only bankrupt 
act that has remained in force for any considerable 
period. It was subject to repeated amendments and 
was not repealed until 1878. Again a panic interposed 
and the distress that followed proved an influence of 
great power in affecting public sentiment. The present 
bankruptcy law was approved by the President July I, 
1898. So far as the law is expressive not only of our 
humanity but of our commercial common sense. 

Although Chautauqua County measurably felt the 
effects of the financial depressions that have occurred 
with some regularity through the century, the panic 
of 1837 was probably the most disastrous. The country 
was new and buoyant and all branches of business in- 
dicated unexampled prosperity. Everywhere men were 
making money, and whoever had capital, whether his 
own or borrowed, was sure of great profits and invest- 
ments were made in all sorts of enterprises. Buying 
and selling lands became a craze and speculation be- 
came general and was carried to an alarming ex- 
tent. Early in 1836 indications were perceived of 
a severe money pressure but it was some time 

78 



before those not initiated in banking could be in- 
duced to believe the alarm of the bankers to be 
so well founded as experience soon proved that 
it was. The crash fell heavily upon all Chautauqua. 
Dunkirk's commerce nearly left it and steamboats only 
stopped to wood up. Its docks and warehouses went 
out of repair and nearly all its enterprises expired. The 
country was years in recovering and the lessons of '37 
have been handed down. 

The next panic to be severely felt was in 1857. This 
was largely the result of over-speculation — too many 
railroads and too much debt piled up at a large interest 
in the hope of vast returns. This coupled with the lack 
of a safe currency caused an acute and unfortunate busi- 
ness reaction. The business check of 1867 passed over 
almost unnoticed as all our products were selling at 
high prices. 

The seeming prosperity of the early '70's brought 
about a period of over-production and speculation and 
in 1873 the bubble burst and spread ruin far and wide. 
Prices of all commodities fell and people found it hard 
to get a simple living. All this was overcome in the 
early part of the '8o's and business was thriving except 
a little period in 1887 following the Baring failure. 

In 1 891 and '92 business had never been so good 
and it reached unprecedented proportions. In the early 
part of '93 there was doubt and uncertainty as to the 
future condition of business and the country was soon 
confronted with a great business panic. As in 1857, 
this depression was followed by an unusual output of 
gold and governmental financial legislation put busi- 
ness on a sounder basis than ever before. According 
to the statisticians the savings and acquisitions of the 
last decade are greater than all the decades before in 
the history of the county ; but as a mountain cannot be 

79 



estimated at close range, so looking at the growth of 
wealth during the last few years we must stand a little 
apart from it to get any idea of its proportions. 

According to the last census the total manufactur- 
ing capital of the county was in 1900 fourteen million 
five hundred eighty thousand dollars. The total equal- 
ized valuation of the county reaches the enormous figure 
of thirty-one million five hundred five thousand two 
hundred thirty-six dollars. A large amount of Chau- 
tauqua County capital is employed in other counties and 
states. 

CURRENCY. 

The whole civilized world was suffering from busi- 
ness depression in 1820. Our financial system had been 
totally disarranged. In 1811, the twenty -year charter 
of the first Bank of the United States expired. The cur- 
rency provided by the national bank was withdrawn 
and its place was taken by the issue of a multitude of 
state banks. In the meantime, the flood of paper bank 
notes became greatly depreciated and there was a gen- 
eral collapse throughout the country. 

There was a discount on notes ranging from one to 
twenty per cent. Every business man had to keep a 
''bank note detector" revised and published weekly and 
was not sure then that the notes he accepted would not 
be pronounced worthless by the next mail. There was 
hardly a week without a bank failure and nearly every 
man had bills of broken banks in his possession. To 
add to the perplexity of the situation, there were in- 
numerable counterfeits which could with difficulty be 
distinguished from the genuine. All this was a terrible 
annoyance to the business community but it was a 
profit to the bill brokers. This condition continued until 
a year or two after the breaking out of the Rebellion 

go 



and at the time of the organization of the national 
banks. 

At the commencement of the War there were still 
in circulation, coins whose names are so utterly for- 
gotten as to sound strange to the ears of the genera- 
tion accustomed to speak of cents, of dimes and of 
quarters. The silver pieces which passed from hand to 
hand under the name of small change were largely made 
up of foreign coins. They had been in circulation long 
before the War for Independence, had seen much ser- 
vice, and were none the better for the wear they had 
sustained. Some shilling pieces and sixpence pieces 
were to be found in circulation, and were, with the ftps, 
the levies, and the pistareens, the last relics of a time 
happily passed away. 

The small change was of silver ; and among the sil- 
ver coins were the Spanish milled dollar, the half, quar- 
ter, eighth and sixteenth of a dollar, the English crown, 
the French crown, the English shilling, the sixpence 
and the pistareen. The copper coins were pennies and 
French sous. Each of these coins, again, expressed 
five different values, for it could be translated into ster- 
ling money and the four local currencies of the states. 

When the war broke out, there was immediately a 
pressing demand for money. The government found 
the treasury almost bankrupt, and at first was afraid 
to lay the heavy taxes which would have provided the 
needed income. Meanwhile gold was exported and 
hoarded, and in the last days of 1861 specie payments 
were suspended by the banks. That left no circulating 
medium but the notes of state banks. Accordingly in 
1862, it was determined to issue United States paper 
demand notes which should be a legal tender. With 
these notes, "greenbacks" they were familiarly called, 
the government undertook to pay its bills. In the years 



81 



1862 and 1863 four hundred fifty million dollars of 
them were issued. By that time the inevitable deprecia- 
tion of such issues, so familiar whenever the attempt 
to float them is made, had proceeded very far, and fur- 
ther issue was stopped. Meanwhile all the fractional 
silver had followed the gold out of the country and the 
government had to fill its place also with paper. 

By this time bonds had been provided, and their 
sale, together with the heavier taxes which should have 
been laid in 1861, enabled the treasury to meet its en- 
gagements. In 1863 an act was passed providing for 
the organization of national banks. They were required 
to deposit United States bonds with the treasury at 
Washington as security for currency they might issue. 
So after sixty years we were provided with a reliable 
and stable currency. 

In 1875 Congress, as one of its last acts before giv- 
ing way to its successor elected in the previous year, 
made a law providing for the resumption of specie pay- 
ments on the first of January, 1879. This resumption 
was effected without friction or any shock whatever to 
business interests. 

The first of the two great periods of extraordinary 
discovery of gold appeared about the middle of the cen- 
tury while the other was near the end. These discov- 
eries are distinguished as the greatest the world has 
ever known. Since 1850 there has been more gold 
added to the world's stock than in all the years up to 
that time since the discovery of America. 

Ten years ago the principle of co-operation in mer- 
chandising and manufacturing was in vogue and found 
to be an irridescent dream. Things co-operate because 
a man makes them. Every successful concern is the 
result of one man power. One generation has brought 
to man a larger conception of business and a broader 

82 



fellowship and nobler charity toward those in different 
vocations than the two which preceded it. 

The aggregation of capital so familiar now in the 
form of corporations began to appear in the first half 
of the century. As business expanded, the inconven- 
iences of partnership, especially in the way of unlimited 
liability, led to the formation of corporations for many 
purposes. Mill companies, turnpike companies, and 
banks as well as railroads were incorporated and thus 
gradually the way was paved for the giant combinations 
which overshadow the whole field of business enter- 
prise. 

For a long time partnerships seemed to afford a 
sufficient means for dealing with all commercial enter- 
prises and nearly all our economic undertakings were 
in the hands of men who were related to each other by 
such bonds. In time, however, it was found that good 
as this system is for most purposes, it is not well adapt- 
ed to certain conditions that have arisen in the vast in- 
crease of work required in many branches of modern 
business. 

The business required in our existing economic life 
could not have been developed or maintained without 
the agency of our corporate system ; in fact the com- 
mercial progress of the last half century to a great ex- 
tent has depended upon the development of these insti- 
tutions. At present almost all the large commercial en- 
terprises have taken on a corporate form. It is now 
evident that the business of the future is in the main 
to be committed to such associations. The conditions 
of necessity justify the use of the corporate business 
method in the establishing of great factories, and capi- 
tal and management can both be best secured and em- 
ployed in such undertakings by a stockholders' associa- 

83 



tion as most corporations are granted either perpetual 
existence or a long term of action. 

At present the large fortunes with rare exception 
are represented by shares in stock companies. Under 
the old system the management of a great estate re- 
quired incessant supervision. There is a limit to its 
bulk which was determined by the need of continual 
personal care. If a person be wise in his investments, 
he may trust his money entirely to these corporations 
and can profit by the fidelity and commercial skill that 
exists throughout the world. 

The question of how capital is to be preserved irom 
loss through all kinds of misadventures is one of the 
most serious problems that our modern society has to 
face. It constantly becomes more difficult to invest the 
accumulation of the people in a safe way, so the ques- 
tion of property management will always be serious. 
The integrity and skill with which the great corpora- 
tions have been managed has been eminently creditable 
to the honesty and business capacity of our financiers. 
The modification of corporate action recently devised 
under the name of trusts has occupied a large place in 
public attention. These associations are devised not 
with a view of undertaking new activities but for the 
purpose of securing a monopoly of the business with 
a view of regulating and controlling competition, and 
its influence is deteriorating both on commercial pro- 
ducts and business morals. The popular odium which 
applies to trusts should not be transferred to legitimate 
corporations. 

The form which modern society is taking is more 
and more that of organization. Isolated attempts of 
capitalists to transact business on a small scale are 
changed for combined action whereby cost is reduced, 
efficiency is multiplied and so profits are swollen. Rail- 

8 4 



roads and telegraph lines are united in great systems 
and more recently the same is general with many forms 
of manufacturing, and among laboring men the same 
process is apparent. Unions are numerous and com- 
binations are made into still more inclusive associa- 
tions. 

Never have commerce and industry offered such 
prizes to men of trained intellect and broad views. 
Never have young men faced an epoch so rich in op- 
portunity and so big in responsibility. To carry a re- 
sponsibility gives a sense of power, and men who have 
borne responsibility know how to carry it. Growth 
comes through assuming responsibility, by bearing bur- 
dens and doing things that require power. Our future 
depends upon our energy and upon the union of our 
citizens. It depends also upon the prosperity of all. 



-•;. 



LBFe '06 



SEP 3C 1905 



/> 7 



